


House on the Shore

by incandescence



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Chinen Yuri as the actual bae, M/M, here let me dump all my takaki feelings on you, jumping to my dream more like jump into my dream, putting the burn in slowburn, sleep disorders and some symptoms, takaki loves the beach in every universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 12:39:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3327317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incandescence/pseuds/incandescence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takaki Yuya: Sleep Specialist</p>
            </blockquote>





	House on the Shore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [takajima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/takajima/gifts).



> This is for [turtleheartz's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/turtleheartz) very, _very_ belated birthday. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY. This is over two months late. I really just wanted to write Takaki helping Yuto sleep better (and more often), with one particular scene in mind, and then an entire universe exploded around it.
> 
> Also about halfway through I got it into my head that I wanted to write a prequel, so that might happen.
> 
> Unbeta-ed. I've gone through this about four times but it's highly likely that I missed something because /24k wtf how did this happen/, so if you see something, please let me know!

There might come a time where Takaki makes a decision that's better than moving his office to the beach, but for now, it's still the best decision he's ever made in his life. There is literally nothing bad about his relocation: the sound of waves accompany him all throughout the day, he can walk a few minutes down to the beach instead of driving for an hour, and the house is large enough for the two of them, plus clients and any guests. 

Even when it was just Takaki sharing a clinic with the professor, there was a shortage of space. So when Aya graduated, they really had no chance, but he never expected they'd accumulate such a large client base during their two years in the city together: he never could wrap his head around the fact that the people crowded in the waiting room were waiting for _them_.

They've been able to schedule things so that nobody will have to wait for long periods of time, but here at the beach, their waiting room is called the living room.

Because Takaki loves driving, he still makes the hour long drive back up to the city at least twice a week; to reassure his mother he's still fit, healthy, and not too tanned, for shopping in Shibuya, or, like today, to reassure Chinen he's still fit, healthy, and not too tanned. 

"So what's it like being back in civilisation?" Chinen asks after he's taken a gulp of his tea, resting his chin on his hands.

Takaki resists the urge to stick his tongue out by shoving another mouthful of rice inside and refusing to answer until he's chewed and swallowed. "Not the first time I've been back," he reminds his friend. It's been an entire month since he moved.

Unperturbed, Chinen happily accepts the meat Takaki puts on his plate. "You missed me though, didn't you? Admit it."

Chew, chew, swallow. "I missed you." It's true, he does miss Chinen, and he misses his family, but he's _an hour away_ for crying out loud. The fact that he evidently, maddeningly, can't go without them for a couple of days is precisely the reason Takaki will never be able to relocate to somewhere, say, twenty hours away.

"You're so lonely," his friend informs him, oh-so-kind, and somehow manages to avoid the kick under the table Takaki sends his way. "Okay, I'm kidding, I'll stop."

After lunch, Chinen drags him to the manga store across town they used to go to almost every lunch hour before the renovation. Some things never change. 

"Takaki, Chii-chan, welcome!" Yamada greets them at the door, a big smile on his face. He's wearing a new apron today, dark green to match the newer, bigger interior.

"Don't you have someone to do that for you?" Chinen teases, craning his neck to look around the store. "What happened to Mirai-chan? Did she quit because she know she's too good for you?"

"I'm here, Chinen-kun," an amused voice drawls, and all their eyes travel to the top of the staircase where a young woman has paused on her way up, a small stack of books underneath her other arm.

Takaki and Chinen wave until Shida disappears from view.

"I saw you walk down the street from the window," Yamada says, scowling, when they turn their attention back to the storeowner. "Is it a crime to greet my favourite customers?"

Takaki rather fails to hide his smile when Chinen gives Yamada's shoulder a consolation pat. "It's okay Ryosuke, we missed you too."

There's a 'welcome back 15% off all manga storewide' sale, plus Yamada's usual special 05.09% friends with benefits discount, so Takaki picks up a few volumes to take back with him.

"Oh hey, I got that one too!" Chinen points out when they're lining up at the counter to pay. A quick glance confirms it, the same cover poking out near the bottom of the pile.

"We'll exchange reviews," Takaki promises, exchanging smirks and salutes with Chinen. 

"How's the beach?" Shida asks when he slides his books along the counter. 

Takaki grins back, pulling his credit card out of his wallet. "Excellent. You should come down sometime. How's school? One more year left, right?"

She nods while scanning his purchases. "Yes, it's going to be even tougher from now on."

"I have every faith in you," he tells her. If anyone could juggle an internship with a part-time job all while maintaining top marks in her senior year of university with a full-time load, it's Shida Mirai.

She flashes him another smile before a sombre expression crosses her face. "By the way, Takaki-kun," she begins, pausing only to take his credit card and put through the transaction, "may I have your business number, please? It's for a friend."

It's a good thing he already cracked open the new box of business cards that arrived yesterday evening. From his wallet, Takaki pulls out one of a few he stashed there. "Can he drive? It's an hour by car." In case her friend doesn't drive, he rattles off some train directions. "Tell him he can call anytime or visit during opening hours, I don't mind. " He doesn't ask for more details, nor does he get any, but Shida doesn't manage to smooth out the frown lines in her face quickly enough to escape his notice. 

After wringing a furtive promise that she'll convince Yamada to take some time off from the store and come visit, now that the store's renovation is complete, Takaki takes the bag given to him and shuffles towards the front door where Yamada and Chinen are discussing something. Just his luck — Chinen's facing away from him.

As far as Takaki's concerned, that's a big mistake.

He sneaks up behind Chinen, then with a quick nod at Yamada, covers Chinen's eyes with his hands.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," Chinen complains after they've said their goodbyes, the cheerful tinkle of the entrance bell following them on their way out. 

Takaki's still laughing at the memory of Chinen floating ten centimetres off the ground in shock to bother responding.

They bicker all the way to his car like they usually do. Takaki drives Chinen home, and when he asks when his best friend is coming to visit, and perhaps save him by doing his accounts, Chinen gives him a sinister smirk instead of a straight answer.

*

The problem was that, with Takaki's style of therapy, most of his clients are recommended to stay at the clinic for a period overnight, in order for their sleep condition and aura to be properly monitored, and if need be, the meaning of their dreams. There were a few rooms available for this purpose back in the city, but they were nearly always being used, if not by his and Aya's patients, by the professor's. There was a high demand for weekend stays, stressed businessmen and college students making up most of their clientele. 

Daytime appointments could only be booked at least two weeks in advance, and since Takaki and Aya shared a small office, it wasn't uncommon for one of them to be kicked out to the couch to complete their paperwork on any given day.

Here at the beach, walk-ins and on-the-day bookings are most welcome.

"I recommend a nap no longer than sixty minutes once a day," Takaki advises, scribbling down instructions on the thick, small-grid notepad he bought from the local convenience store, "to maximise cognitive memory. Quick power naps of ten to twenty minutes will help you to stay focused." He rips the page out and presents it to his patient. "Set an alarm; two if you need to. Do you want to take one now?"

Kamenashi-san hesitates, looking pained, but then nods.

"Don't worry," Takaki says. "I'll be keeping an eye on the time as well. It won't take long for you to get used to sleeping again." 

He leads Kamenashi-san into the guest room he set up this morning in the first hallway. Takaki gets Kamenashi-san settled in, activates an orb and sets an alarm.

Later, Kamenashi-san books another appointment a month in advance. Takaki's returning to his office after showing him out when the doorbell rings.

He's had the same dream about the sea every night this week, so Takaki breathes a sigh of relief. Before Yabu showed up at his doorstep, Takaki had these dreams for close to a month. 

He backtracks to the living room. There's a boy on the other side of the door who looks to be about college age. 

"Hi," Takaki says, putting on his best "hello customer, welcome to my beach resort" smile. "How may I help you?"

There are heavy lines under the boy's eyes, but he still smiles and extends a hand out. "I'm Nakajima Yuto. Mirai told me to come here." He takes a deep breath. "I would have called, but I was afraid that I'd chicken out and not come, and I can't lie to Mirai because she sees through everything-,"

"Why don't we talk inside?" Takaki asks. He feels a little bad for interrupting the guy, but figures a seat and possibly some tea is better for a person than standing outside and rambling. "I don't have another appointment today, so you can have a consult now, if you'd like, or at least talk to me before deciding."

When Nakajima agrees, Takaki motions for him to come inside and shuts the door behind him.

"Shida-san mentioned you," Takaki says once he's guided Nakajima to his office with a mug of tea and into the patient's chair, and is settled into his own big, comfortable consultant's chair. He doesn't say how worried she'd been. "What's up?"

Nakajima grimaces, curling his fingers even tighter around the mug and sitting forward in the chair. "I'm terrified of sleeping," he says after hesitating. "At night I just lie awake in bed and I can't get to sleep, and if on the off chance I do drift off I'm always waking up again or have nightmares. Mirai said you might be able to help."

Takaki pulls his pad towards him. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, mind if I take some notes?" Nakajima shakes his head, so Takaki goes ahead. 

"Do you turn off electronics at least an hour before bedtime? No caffeine five to six hours before you sleep? Do you have a regular exercise regime?"

To each of these questions the answer is in the negative, the expression on Nakajima's face looking guiltier by the minute. It's nothing Takaki hasn't seen before; he's worn this particular look himself many a time. This is what he's here for, after all. Takaki records all of this down, and scribbles down a list of preventative measures to go through with the boy later.

Then he begins a new round of interrogation.

"What's your caffeine intake like?"

"Like one needs air."

"Do you take naps? For how long?"

At this, a rueful smile spreads across Nakajima's face. "I try not to, but I can't help it sometimes," he admits, looking sheepish. "Sometimes after school, and more often during exam time."

Takaki nods. Normal, for a student. "When you nap, do you dream?" 

This time, the answer is immediate. "Quite often. They're really vivid. The bad ones usually wake me up." 

If Takaki were hesitant to classify it as a sleep disorder before, he isn't now. Naps aren't supposed to induce dreaming, and the fact that this happens to Nakajima on a frequent basis is an indication of the poor quality of his nighttime sleeping. 

As per protocol, he goes through the ten minute, sixty minute, and ninety minute sleep cycle, the benefits of each, and when to take them. Afterwards, some clients prefer to go home and try, or make use of the patient rooms once or twice, but he has a feeling that Nakajima's not here for mere instruction.

Takaki's speciality is to encourage long-term healing, but that it means the patient has to come by the clinic and stay overnight at regular intervals. The healing process is different for everyone, Takaki explains, and he's seen cases ranging anything from six weeks to six months, depending on the severity of the disorder. He doesn't say this out loud, but he thinks that the extent of Nakajima's visit may fall closer to the "months" side of the spectrum rather than "weeks", should he choose to pursue this option. It's always up to the patient to make the choice, of course, but Takaki's the most successful doctor with sleep science and dream magic as his specialty within Tokyo, and only one out of seven in Japan. Not everyone takes this option, but most do.

"I'll hand you some information," he says, pulling out some information pamphlets out of the top drawer of his desk. Nakajima accepts the stack of paper with a small smile. "Take this home and read through it to help you decide whether you want to enlist my services or not. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call the number on the front, and let me know when you've made your decision."

Nakajima has exams so if he chooses to, the earliest he could come is in three weeks. In the meantime, there's herbal pills Takaki gives him as a temporary solution on the way to the front door.

"Remember, twenty minutes if you're doing a late night exam cram session," he says, holding the door open while Nakajima puts on his shoes. "Sixty minutes for memory retention?. Ninety for a full rejuvenation. Don't take the pills unless you absolutely have to, and take them one hour before you sleep. If you feel they're not working for you any more, call me. Good luck for exams."

"Thank you very much sensei," Nakajima says, turning and bowing once he's stepped out onto the doormat. "See you next month!"

*

One other perk of relocating to the beach is that Takaki can make good use of his lifeguard qualifications more often than before. Now that the council had listened to his and his fellow lifeguards' request for a more sheltered vantage point and he no longer comes home with his skin red and peeling, the only thing stopping him from being up there every day is the fact that he has an actual, paying job.

He'd gotten his license in his first year of university, back in the days where he'd drive down to the beach a couple of nights a week in order to de-stress and not think about anything for the next couple of hours. There was one memorable weekend that he had no less than four readings to finish and a third of an assignment to smash out, and decided not to do any of them, packing his bag on a whim that morning, loading it into the car, and hightailing out of the city without a second thought.

To this day, Takaki still insists that he was fated to go to the beach that weekend, that the beach was asking for him and he had answered her calls. The beach had just begun giving lifeguard training courses a couple of weeks prior, and the big sign welcoming passionate beach-goers attracted Takaki even before he'd parked the car.

After he'd paid the training fee to the woman manning the makeshift stall, almost equivalent to what he made at the convenience store closest to the university in one week, Takaki discovered he was the only student there.

When he talked to the coach, who'd undergone lifeguard training in Australia, Takaki discovered he was the first student _ever_.

The rest of the day was spent learning basic water rescuing techniques, the correct way to tow a mannequin safely out of water, and how to provide Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation. By the end of it, Takaki was exhausted, barely able to drag himself off the beach and into the motel he'd booked upon his arrival, and then on Sunday he got up early and demonstrated all of these techniques, plus his general swimming ability.

He arrived back home to a few text messages from Inoo and Chinen, asking if he wanted to watch a movie or play a game or go scuba diving, and one from each of them with some variation of "I hope you accidentally knocked yourself out when experimenting, and aren't really dead."

Takaki snorted before snapping a picture of his tanned, grinning face and temporary handwritten certificate, and sent it to them both, along with a "LOL", a winky face and a "c u 2moro".

Since then, Takaki spent part of his semester holidays volunteering and continued to take the mandatory renewal course every twelve months. Each year saw a rise in the number of volunteers, the gratitude of the locals, and hence the funds donated by the local council, and Takaki feels a swell of happiness whenever he thinks about how he's been there from almost the very beginning.

He climbs up the narrow, ladder and ducks inside, nods when Tanaka-san tells him that he did a sunscreen round earlier, but that was a couple of hours ago so Takaki should feel free to go ahead and do another one, chuckles at the story of the really cute kid that waved and tried to climb up the ladder, and rolls his eyes when he hears that a girl called shark, and had been utterly unrepentant. There's always one.

Sometimes Takaki takes his shifts in the afternoons, one of the most busiest times of the day, where he sits in the little ostentatious hut overlooking the coast, eating two onigiris and watching out for any signs of danger. 

Mostly, Takaki loves being a lifeguard. He loves knowing that people can enjoy the beach like he does, without fear, because he's able to keep them safe. Sitting up there in the shade, watching a toddler have their first ocean experience under the safe arms and watchful eyes of their parents. Watching the sun set every other day, and never getting sick of watching the sky change colours.

Still, every shift Takaki has to wade into the ocean and hoist over his shoulder some kid that swam out of the boundaries of the red and yellow flags, "just to see what would happen", and deliver him to his unconcerned parents or impressed friends. Five years on and off he's been volunteering, and still Takaki's waiting for people to come to him for safety advice, to heed the poster plastered on all sides of the shelter that says "Lifeguards available for any queries and concerns." He has yet to be asked to administer a swim test, even though there are lots of children who really, really, need one, and Takaki is this close to asking permission to make such a test mandatory, to really drive home the importance of safety to both parents and children.

Such a motion would not be welcomed right now, he knows, so Takaki sits tight and doesn't stop hoping. For now, he'll continue to keep both eyes out, decree himself as his beloved beach's Batman in private, and teach his very small children's swimming class every second Sunday morning.

*

The beret is the first thing he sees over the top of some canvas when he gets back to the house; the beret that Aya now wears wherever she paints because he bought it just to poke some fun.

"Is that a new piece?" he calls out. The last painting he saw from Aya was the city skyline, now hanging up in the hallway.

The beret bobs up and down. "No looking!" Aya says, poking her head out from behind the canvas. "But yes. Started it yesterday morning, when you were out."

Takaki scrunches up his nose but holds out his hands in surrender. He misses watching Aya paint, even if she won't let him see it yet — during the last year of their time in the city, she just hadn't had the time.

Most of her paintings are in folders, locked away in boxes stored at the top of her wardrobe, but a few have managed to find their way into eager hands. They all have one in their homes; Inoo and Chinen, Takaki and Aya, one each in their rooms here, and a few in the living room and hallway.

"They're nothing special," she always mumbles when she's done with one, but with a few pleas, she's able to be convinced not to destroy them. 

Satisfied that he's not going to surprise her, Aya turns her attention back to her painting.

Takaki wanders into the kitchen to make some tea. 

*

Today, when he finishes lifeguarding, Takaki comes back to get ready for guests.

However, as it turns out, Inoo is a highly successful architect and can't make it down this month.

"But it's okay, because you have me!" Chinen, seeming to think it's adequate consolation, puffs out his chest. Which to be fair, Takaki can't deny. He'll send some messages to Inoo later, maybe tease him with underwater pictures.

"Yes, and you're supposed to work," he says, steering Chinen in the direction of his office.

Chinen sticks his tongue out. "If I wasn't being fed —," he calls over his shoulder, but then disappears into the room to work on the accounts.

Takaki rolls his eyes while Aya giggles on her way back to her office.

*

A week later, he gets a call from Nakajima, after which he sends the patient contract by courier, and then on Friday afternoon, Takaki finds him standing on his porch when he opens the door to let a patient out.

"You're making good progress; just be sure to follow my instructions, and call me if you feel like you need to. Oh, hi Nakajima-kun! See you next week, Shinkawa-san!"

Shinkawa smiles and bids her goodbyes, descending the stairs with quick, blithe steps to leave Nakajima and Takaki standing face to face.

"Welcome back!" Takaki says, stepping aside and motioning for Nakajima to come in. 

He leads Nakajima to the living room, settling into his favourite couch seat and waits for Nakajima to do the same.

"I need to go through a few rules with you before I show you to your room," he begins, leaning over to grab two empty glasses and the jug of water from the coffee table. "In case you change your mind." It's happened before. He passes a glass of water to Nakajima and takes a sip of his own before continuing. "During this process, you know that I strongly advise against any form of caffeine, right?" 

This is usually the point where Takaki determines how serious his potential patients are about their commitment to his intensive program.

Ever since interning with his professor, Takaki has seen many, _many_ retractions. Some of them seek treatment elsewhere, or chain themselves into a lifetime of problems and non-recovery. Some return before the year's over, claiming a changed mind and renewed willingness. Takaki has no hard feelings. But he's discovered it's better to know early, rather than later, what kind of patient he's dealing with. It's all in the pamphlets he gives out, but not everybody reads the pamphlets.

Nakajima's face is unhappy over the rim of his glass as he nods. "I've tried going cold turkey before," he sighs, frown lines forming on his forehead, "It wasn't pretty." 

Takaki says nothing, just waits. Nakajima's struggle as he tries to process this is etched onto his face.

Really, he understands. Back in university, when his professor first discussed this, Takaki had neglected to listen past the negative effects of the drug, and missed what would actually happen once an addict stopped. He'd gone home and thrown out his entire coffee supply, then went to Inoo and Chinen's to do the same. 

On hindsight: not a good idea to take away all their caffeine at the exact same time. Takaki remembers threats of friendship withdrawal, headaches lasting upwards of three days, and one memorable moment of Chinen falling asleep during a test.

He still got an A, but.

"Okay," Nakajima agrees, although the expression on his face suggests the surrender is reluctant. "No caffeine it is." 

Takaki is still satisfied. "Good," he says, placing his glass back on the table and standing up. "I'll take you to your room now."

Inoo had raised a delicate eyebrow when he found out exactly how many bedrooms Takaki was interested in. "You're running a clinic, not a hospital or a hotel," he'd said, but in the end, shook his head and entered the dimensions into the plans, anyway. That was the first and only time he ever commented on it — both he and Chinen seemed to have no qualms about the number of empty rooms at their disposal when they came to visit the first weekend, spending an hour choosing "their" rooms based on the bedspreads Aya's mother made.

All the guest rooms are empty now, so Takaki takes Nakajima to the first corridor of bedrooms, and into the fourth one on the right, the one that he'd already slid a labelled name card through the card holder on the door this morning. 

Nakajima follows him inside, eyes wandering around the room, taking in the room. There'll be no consultation today, so Takaki tells him to spend the rest of the day doing whatever he wants; read a book, explore the beach, unpack. 

He doesn't miss the way Nakajima perks up at the mention of the beach. "Just keep an eye on the time," Takaki instructs him as Nakajima rummages deep into his bag. "Dinner starts at six thirty, and if you're late I can't guarantee there'll be anything left."

Mainly because Juri's staying here tonight, and he's right in the middle of his growth spurt.

*

Juri's parents come to pick him up early in the morning, so Takaki and Aya spend half an hour explaining the procedures they went through that helped Juri switch his mind off at night in order to be able to sleep, as well as methods to maintain this at home, while Juri slips out to the beach without anyone noticing until his older brother brings him back. They make Koki stay for breakfast, and Nakajima has woken up by the time Takaki turns off the stove, so they all crowd in the living room, and this is why Takaki wanted his own space, surveys them all happily chatting and eating from his perch on the arm of the sofa.

"See you next time, Juri," he says, waving to the boy and his family on the porch. "Remember what we taught you this week, okay?"

"Byeeeeee Takaki, bye Oomasa-san, see you next time I come to annoy second brother!" Juri grins at them, then scampers down the steps after his already-retreating parents.

Takaki's still shaking his head when he enters the consultant room Aya and Nakajima are already seated in. To say that Nakajima's looking a little worse for wear is to putt it mildly; from the way his fingers keep massaging his temples, it seems like the caffeine withdrawal has already taken hold. He sets the teapot he carried in with him down onto the table, and pours three cups. Nakajima grips his like it's his life support, and it takes an entire cup and a half for him to look semi-alive. The tea is non-caffeinated, but from experience it helps at least, to soothe. He turns to see Aya looking at him, and he smiles and makes a small gesture for her to begin. Her eyes grow wide, but after taking another sip, she nods.

"Routine is important," she says, setting her own cup onto the table, "so for this initial week you're with us, we'll establish a routine that involves consultations every third morning, naps after lunch, and bedtimes at ten. In the afternoons, you'll be sleeping under an aura light, which will prevent dreams and promotes healing. At nights, Takaki-san will encourage dreams, except for the last couple of nights, when we'll analyse your own dreams, if you have any, to measure your progress." She pauses to let the information digest, and Nakajima nods slowly. "After that, the schedule and content of your subsequent visits will be altered based on this one."

Nakajima doesn't have any questions at the moment, so after sending him out, both he and Aya have a few more patients each; aura readings for Aya, consultations for Takaki, that both keep them busy until noon.

*

"Does this thing move on its own?" Nakajima asks after lunch, awe evident in both his voice and his face as he swivels his head around to follow the orb's rotation. "I don't see any kind of cable."

"Levitation spell," Takaki explains, reaching out to touch the hovering orb and send it into a spin. It still entertains him, even now, floating in the air. Sometimes he leans against the headboard at night, just to watch its steady rotation until his eyes begin to close.

Nakajima continues to be entranced by its soft, white glow until Aya's entrance brings him back to attention.

"This orb is an aura light," she says, sliding into the chair next to Takaki's, clipboard in hand. "It prevents dreams by neutralising your aura, which will improve the quality of your sleep for a short amount of time."

Takaki shares a quick look with her, amused at her near-perfect recitation of their product's tagline. She's sheepish as she turns away from his gaze. From what he'd heard before getting involved with the project, the idea had sprouted during the first few weeks of her first year of university, soon turning into an obsession that had her scribbling and sketching draft plans in her notebook even during lectures, until she was caught. Instead of punishment, she was granted special permission to work on it during the entire span of her four year undergraduate degree. It turned into her masters project, with tri-annual consultations and allowance to use any resource in the facility. After they'd become friends, Takaki was called on for input on sleep inducement and dream prohibiting, and his research, contribution to the field of sleep science and subsequent report work was enough to grant him a Masters degree, too.

None of this exchange seems to be caught by Nakajima, curling up on the bed with quiet obedience at Aya's invitation to rest. The orb is caught in Takaki's hand, its direction of rotation swiftly made to change, and the glow becomes bigger and brighter until the boy's body is encased in soothing radiance. Wordlessly, they keep watch until his breaths turn steady, marking the time on the clipboard and leaving it hanging on the foot of the bed on their way out.

Takaki quietly shuts the door behind them and gets ready to greet his next client.

*

Yui was the first person he ever helped, almost twenty years ago when he calmed her sleeping form merely by touching one of her flailing legs. When she woke up fifteen minutes later, she'd smiled and told their mother that she dreamt of Bun-chan, the stuffed purple bunny clutched in one of Takaki's hands at the time. Yuu, too, and Yuma, and also sometimes his mother and his father, but only when Takaki himself clambered right on top of them on the couch and demanded a nap, with hugs. Takaki doesn't know when a person's quality of sleep became so important to him, but maybe he's always believed that it's something everyone deserves.

Three years of professional work, and he has his system all planned out. For high-priority cases like Nakajima Yuto, the first two-week stay is for the generation of soothing imagery, to help project positive emotions until projection isn't needed. For this step, images are taken from _Chapter 5: No more sadness blue_ of Domoto Koichi's book, _Deep in Your Heart_. Takaki has a signed copy of the book sitting on the shelf behind his desk in the office, having stayed back after the guest lecture to talk to one of his longtime idols, and while he rarely has to refer to the spirituality tome for his own work, he knows it all by heart, having referred to it countless times in university. 

After that, it's an alternation between what inspires the client and the same commonly accepted soothing imagery that Takaki has found to be the most effective. Interviews are conducted, usually on the first night, to determine this.

Nakajima shakes his head, having finished perusing the list copied from _Deep In Your Heart_. "I don't have a problem with any of these," he says, handing the piece of paper back. "As for my inspirations...," he trails off into silence, brow furrowed. 

Takaki waits. It's a difficult question.

"My environment," is the reply he gets in the end, when Nakajima lifts his head, his gaze sharp. "I think I get inspired by all kinds of environments, whether they be real or imaginary."

"Got it," Takaki says, adding the new information to Nakajima's file. He can work with this. "If you think of any others, or need to make any changes, feel free to let me know at any time."

Still sitting in the middle of the bed, one leg dangling off the edge, Nakajima nods. "Okay," he agrees.

Years of honing his ability means that Takaki no longer has to establish physical contact for his powers to work, so all he does is instruct Nakajima to get settled for bed, and waits until the boy's eyes are shut, and for the pink glow of the orb to signal the first stage of sleep, before closing his own. He visualises the horizon he alone stood in front of and watched after dinner earlier, the way the colours in the sky slowly changed while the sun made its descent, blue to gold to pink, waves lapping lazily at his feet. The entire scene is transmitted, just as it is, and when he opens his eyes, the pink has turned to yellow.

He pads softly to the kitchen, where Aya looks up from her book. "Number three?" she guesses, pushing her glasses up.

"Number seven," he corrects, plopping into the seat beside her. "But they're both to do with the sun, so close enough." Beaming at her soft chuckle, he peers into his candle drawer, selecting a vanilla and lime jar to light for the at least the next half hour.

*

People dream as many as six dreams a night, and sometimes remember none of them. People dream as little as zero dreams a night, but Takaki needs his clients to dream at least one to aid with healing, so it's one idea he helps to cultivate every night. Aya's orb monitors the sleeper's emotions, allows them to remain in a a stable condition. This in turn influences their mindset, and the types of dreams that may form. 

Takaki doesn't ask for the contents of a patient's dreams, and he tells Yuto this the next morning, when they're seated at the counter for breakfast.

"Dreams are personal, and I won't pry. You're welcome to tell me if you want to, of course. But the only times I really need to know is if the dreams stirs up negative emotions, or if it's not based on the projected image. Because then we'll need to figure out why."

Yuto swallows a mouthful of rice. "Sounds fair."

He does find out, however, that Yuto woke up after crashing a hang glider on a beach in his dream. 

"I guess I don't need to know the meaning," Yuto says when he finishes explaining. "But I thought I'd tell you anyway."

And Yuto's aware enough of his own self-confidence that Takaki says nothing, just gives him another serving of breakfast.

*

Like all withdrawals, the suffering has to get worse before it can get better, and all of Nakajima's symptoms get so, so much worse. Takaki is prepared, however, from university lectures, from testing numerous methods, both old and new, in the old office he shared with Aya in their supervisor's clinic, and from being made to take responsibility for causing Inoo's, Chinen's and his own sans-caffeine physical and emotional breakdown. 

First up is tackling the caffeine-induced insomnia so strong even the orb cannot contain it. Over the course of the first week, Takaki often wakes up in the dead of the night either to the ring of the bedside bell, or the shuffling sounds of Nakajima's pacing in his bedroom, and sometimes even in the kitchen when he gets up to get a glass of water. On nights like these, Takaki takes him back to the room and focuses on re-imposing a tranquil state while Aya adjusts the time settings of the orb.

Secondly, Aya sics a mini version of her aura light on Nakajima that follows him around during his normal, waking hours of the day for minor doses of synthetic mood-lifting and temporary pain relief.

Finally, halfway through the first week Takaki starts bringing Nakajima to the beach for early morning runs. Nakajima doesn't even reach a full kilometre before Takaki sees how much he's struggling and calls it short, but by the following Tuesday, they're neck and neck from the very beginning. It's not a race, Takaki has to keep telling himself as his competitive nature kicks in and he tries to outrun the younger man. It's not a race. They reach the flags, the designated finish line, and collapse to the sand at almost the same time.

After all that, it's only a matter of time until the eventual subsiding of any remaining irritability.

*

"Did you have any recurring dreams before you came here?" Takaki asks on Wednesday morning, as they make their way back from the beach to the house. 

The boy thinks about this before perking up. "Yeah!" he says, smile on his face. "I kept dreaming I was a Jedi." His eyes go distant then, and he frowns. "That, and lots of volcanoes."

*

"So do you remember what was on your timetable, Nakajima-kun?" Aya asks during breakfast. 

Nakajima stares at her, his mouth full. "Uh," he says, and swallows. "Oh yeah, yoga!"

Aya beams as Takaki groans, and she turns her eyes on him. "You're joining us," she says. Her smile means that there's to be no discussion.

Takaki hates yoga. Aya's tried to teach him countless times, but he still can't do much more than a downward dog or a warrior stance; anything that requires even a foot off the ground and he falls flat on his face.

"You'll improve," Aya keeps insisting. "I mean, look at me. When I started, I couldn't even stretch properly."

Chinen is a better yoga partner than him, has been hers since university days when they did it to relieve stress. But it doesn't stop either one of them from begging him and Inoo to join in. 

"It's important to stretch properly," Aya begins today, once they've rolled out the mats and are facing her. They somewhat copy her pose for pose, but when she introduces something called 'the tree', they both topple sideways and crash onto the floor.

Takaki blinks to find Aya hovering over them. "More work needs to be done," she says, fighting a smile.

From somewhere to his right, Nakajima groans.

"Up!" Aya commands, clapping her hands. "No time for rest, we have muscles to stretch!"

As Takaki sits up, wincing, his eyes meet with Nakajima's. The boy looks dazed, as if he doesn't know what hit him. Well, that makes two of them.

He gets back to his feet, grimacing, and holds out his hand to the boy. "Reckon she'll go easy on us if we master this pose?"

"Never!" Aya says, sticking out her tongue, but she can't hide her smile.

*

"Do you spend all your time on the beach?" Nakajima asks as he plops onto the sand beside Takaki's deck chair, swinging his black canvas messenger bag into his lap.

Takaki reaches an arm down to pull out a towel he'd stashed in his bag and tosses it to Nakajima, who catches it and stands up again to unroll it onto the sand. "When I'm not at the house, yeah." He stretches and wiggles back into a comfortable position. After a hectic afternoon lifeguard shift, a recharge was definitely on the cards.

Nakajima shakes his head and whistles, dusting the sand off his clothes and lowering himself onto the towel with a grunt. "It's a really nice beach," he says, staring out at the coast.

"It is," Takaki agrees, feeling the same twinge of pride he always feels when talking about what he's now come to call "his beach", if only in his mind. Even when living in the city, he'd come down as often as he could, at all kinds of times of the day. It calmed him and cleared his mind, and Takaki solved all sorts of problems while he was down here, watching the water lick at the sand in the morning, or the waves crashing along the shore during the afternoon. Moving here felt natural, like another piece of the puzzle was being slotted into place, and the first couple of nights Takaki couldn't believe he hadn't considered it before.

"I came early to take some photos of the sunset. I figured that since it was my last night in a while, I might as well," Nakajima explains, taking out a huge camera from his bag. "This is where the first dream you gave me came from, right? I thought I recognised that tree over there."

"Yep," Takaki replies. He points to the lifeguard tower. "That's where I stood and watched the sunset that time."

Nakajima brightens and instantly snaps a picture of it. Takaki goes back to reading his book but sometimes he looks up and watches the amateur photographer hard at work.

Nakajima had been quiet at the beginning, but the signs of perpetual stress faded well enough that neither he or Aya felt the need to increase his first stay to longer than two weeks. They'll continue monitoring his progress over the course of his next visits, and hopefully the recovery trend continues.

He turns to suggest they head back after a time, but the grimace on the boy's face makes him hesitate. 

"I'm just worried about going back to to school," he explains when Takaki asks. "I'm half expecting all of...it to just come back, just by being in the environment."

It very well might, but Takaki doesn't say it out loud. "It's okay, we'll work through it," he tells the boy instead. 

Later, he projects the image of a beach, but not the one they're currently on. It's bigger, with more trees, more people, and brighter water, and the next day Yuto tells him about lounging on the a deck chair during the daytime, calming him down and making him smile.

*

Takaki returns from his early morning swim and patrol, about to shower when he sees the "visitor" light on in both the room Nakajima's staying in and the one adjacent, on his way to the bathroom. He snorts and shakes his head, smiling as he passes through the corridor.

Nakajima comes out of his room later, bed hair sticking out from all directions, rubbing his eyes with entirely too much vigour than Takaki knows is good for the eyes, thanks to Yamada.

"M'ning," Nakajima yawns, padding into the kitchen and leaning over the counter to watch. "Didn't take you as a pancakes kind of guy."

Takaki hums, depositing some pancakes on a plate before flipping one in the pan. He ladles another two globs of mixture next to it before responding. "I prefer onigiri," he admits without looking back, watching his pancakes begin to turn gold. "But this is more to prove a point." 

Over the sound of the ventilation he hears a chuckle, but no more questions are asked.

"Wait here," he instructs when all the mixture has been cooked, gesturing to a barstool and the mountain of pancakes. "I'll be back soon, start eating first if you want. Want some tea?"

Nakajima furrows his eyebrows at him but says yes to tea while Takaki transfers a couple from the top of the stack onto a smaller plate, motioning again in invitation, before whisking out of the kitchen and back down the corridor. "Will make you tea in a bit," he throws over his shoulder.

It takes approximately twelve seconds from the time Takaki sits on the edge of his bed for Chinen's eyes to fly wide open, proving again to Takaki the effectiveness of the scent of glorious pancakes as a Chinen Yuri wake-up call.

"Gimme," Chinen says, sitting bolt upright, hand outstretched and fingers wiggling, but Takaki holds the plate out of his reach easily. "I dreamt of pancakes last night."

"You always dream of pancakes," Takaki scoffs.

"Yu~yan~," Chinen protests, knowing full well the effect the pet name has on him. Takaki's resolution stands firm, however, and he doesn't let the hand holding the plate waver. Have breakfast in bed with me." Chinen makes one more feeble attempt, but his hands only swipe at thin air.

"Have breakfast out there with Aya and Nakajima," Takaki says instead, and Chinen doesn't have to be told twice.

He levitates a pancake from the plate right into his mouth, then leaps out of bed before Takaki can even blink. He's out the door when Takaki notices an orb following him — Chinen must have called one to him when he got in last night. Sighing, Takaki shuffles out after his friend.

Aya's awake, perched on a barstool next to Nakajima when he ambles back into the kitchen that she leaps off in order to give Chinen a hug. "I'm glad you could join us for breakfast," she says, causing Chinen to beam up at her. "You should come up more often, we can make Takaki go and pick you up."

"Hey!" Takaki interjects for the sake of interjecting, but nobody's listening to him.

"I told Yuuyan you'd miss me if you moved down here," Chinen said, crossing his arms and twisting just so the tongue he sticks out is visible to Takaki.

"Nobody does though," Takaki dismisses with a mocking wave of his hand. "By the way, Nakajima Yuto, this is Chinen Yuri."

Chinen unfolds his arms and sticks out a hand immediately. "Pleased to meet you," he chirps. "I'm here to do maintenance on the orbs."

"L-likewise," Nakajima stammers, taken aback by Chinen's sudden change in demeanour, and they shake. "Wait, maintenance on the orbs?"

Chinen leans over to help himself to another pancake. "Yup, I'm the one who makes them hover like this," he explains, pointing to the orb bouncing erratically behind him.

"Woah," Nakajima breathes.

Amongst much talk, laughter, and a new blend of tea Aya had decided to try, the four of them make quick work of the pancakes. Takaki's marvelling at the wonderful taste of the new blend when he remembers something, and turns to Chinen. 

"My pancakes are just as good as Mammy's, right?"

At this, Chinen tilts his head in mock consideration, empty fork waving around in the air. He shrugs. "They're okay," he muses after swallowing, then eating another mouthful.

When Takaki snorts and Aya laughs, Yuto looks between them, amused.

"That means yes," Takaki assures him over the rim of his mug.

"Does not," Chinen retorts, but accepts the next pancake Takaki dumps on his plate without complaint.

"Remember to call if you feel things get bad again before you next come, okay?" Takaki says after breakfast, descending down the steps behind Nakajima. They've already gone through the administrative details of the next step in the process, so Nakajima now knows exactly when to come back, and what to expect. The past two weeks have been successful in easing him back into a regular sleep pattern and good habits health-wise, but there's still more to be done.

Nakajima pauses a few steps from the end of the boardwalk, and turns around, smiling. "Thanks sensei, see you next month."

*

"All the orbs were still fine, except for the one I took care of last night, but I strengthened the levitation charms on all of them just as a precaution," Chinen tells him when he returns back to the house. The orb in question is following him even now, spinning in lazy circles around his head.

"Thanks, Chii-chan." Takaki makes extra care to ruffle Chinen's hair on the way past, purely to incite the noise of protest his friend currently makes. "What are your plans for today? I have nothing on my schedule."

"Discuss manga with you, and play catch on the beach with the orbs?"

The laughter bubbles out of his chest before he's fully aware of it, and Takaki is so grateful Aya's nowhere to be seen. "We are _not_ playing catch," he emphasises, as if Chinen was actually being serious, "but I will discuss manga with you," he finishes, grabbing the first volume on the top of the stack of books on the coffee table.

When they say "discuss manga", what they really mean is "compare the two different series they read via a series of mundane and ridiculous questions to see which one is a better subjective read."

For example:

"Who would win in a fight, Maho-chan from mine, or... who's the third main girl in yours?" Chinen demands, scrambling over to Takaki's side of the couch to peer over at his comparison choice.

"Uh," Takaki thumbs through the book he hasn't touched since he finished it a week and a half ago, before he remembers. "Itoko-chan. And I can't answer that question without knowing what kind of fight it is," he continues, because he's been playing this game with Chinen and Inoo for way too long not to pick up some of their dirty tricks. "She'd win in an 'identify that lipstick without closer examination' battle. She'd probably beat you in Smash Bros., too."

"High praise," Chinen says, raising an eyebrow. "Maho-chan might not win in the lipstick battle, but I bet she'd play a mean round."

Now it's Takaki's turn to look sceptical. "Where's your proof? Itoko-chan spends an hour every day playing console games."

"Can Itoko-chan drive tanks?" Chinen challenges.

Damn. She can't. At least not in the volumes of the series Takaki's read. "No," he admits. He flails around, trying to think of something to wipe the smug smirk from Chinen's face. "Uh... she can pull all-nighters like nobody else," he tries, and that seems to do the trick.

"Ah, Maho-chan has low blood pressure," Chinen confesses sadly. "So she needs all the sleep she can get." He brightens up. "Just like me."

Takaki snorts at that. The timer goes off and he sits up. "Okay, next question. Can male character number five sew?"

Chinen frowns. "There aren't any main male characters in this series."

"Rival character number five, then," Takaki amends. "Hiroto-kun can, but he still needs lots of help from Kunta-kun."

"Arisa-chan is very impatient," Chinen says seriously. "For one thing, she'd probably get somebody else to thread the needle for her, but I can't really see her going through with it. She might surprise us, though. My turn, now."

This continues until both their stomachs rumble, and Takaki considers stopping to think about lunch.

"So...tie?" Chinen asks, throwing himself dramatically onto Takaki's lap.

"Tie."

*

On the morning of their second anniversary as co-workers, Takaki wakes up an hour earlier than usual in order to prepare a lavish breakfast, only to walk in to find Aya already leaning over the counter consulting a recipe book, hair pulled up into a dishevelled bun.

"Maybe I should have set an orb on you last night," she teases once she's gotten over her initial shock.

"I just wanted to cook you breakfast," he protests, raising his hands in the air. "Let me cook you breakfast, Aya."

She hums and shakes her head, turning back to the stove. "Not today, Yuya," she says sweetly. "But light a candle for us at breakfast, later."

He does light a candle when they settle down to eat the delicious meal, one that smells like grapefruit and ginger, and has never failed to give them energy before. When she's finished eating, he pulls a small package he'd wrapped the night before from the pocket of his dressing gown and hands it to her without quite meeting her eyes.

"Thanks," he says, aware of the unintentional gruffness in his voice. "For everything." 

His squawk of protest when Aya makes him stand up dies on his lips when she envelops him in a giant hug, and tugs him outside to show him her own gift.

He used to think it was his duty to help everyone, but he didn't account for those that didn't want to help themselves. Takaki's gotten better at relaxing, at not wearing himself to the bone, but if he'd just been on his own, he would never have noticed that something needed to be changed.

They have the day off today, a result of not scheduling anything on this day for the last couple of weeks, a recording of a voice message from the both of them on the landline, and a "CLOSED. If urgent, contact Takaki Yuya on 0XX-XXX-XXXX" sign that Takaki hangs on the door just before Aya skips out onto the porch.

They drive up to the city, blasting a mix of Aya's current favourites through the stereo, and Takaki sings along to the ones he knows. 

Inoo and Chinen meet them in the parking lot of the shopping complex, but it's really more like an ambush, the way they almost fall out of Inoo's car waving like it's a choreographed routine, even before Takaki pulls into the parking bay next to them, and smother Aya with affection when she laughs at them.

"It's my favourite customers!" Yamada exclaims when they pile into his shop, beaming and hurrying around the counter. "And Oomasa-san! Long time no see!"

"The renovation looks great, Yamada-kun," Aya says. "Oh, Shida-san, hello!" she greets the girl that pops up at Yamada's right elbow.

"Some new volumes came in the other day that I think you'll like, and that's a really nice necklace, by the way" Shida says, beckoning to Aya, and they soon disappear, chatting all the way, to the rows of shelves on the left side of the store. Chinen follows, and so does Inoo, and soon Takaki's left behind with Yamada, who runs a hand through his hair, his smile wan.

The action isn't lost on Takaki, and he frowns. "You need some rest," he says. "Don't give me that look, you're worn to the bone."

All Yamada does is make a face; they both know he can't really deny it.

"You should come down to the beach then," Takaki suggests. "Pick a weekend and choose some staff, just call me advance to let me know so I can prepare."

"You're too kind," Yamada accuses, jabbing a finger in his direction in mock exasperation, "but I'll take up that offer, sure. I'll need to hire more people first though, Daiki, Shida and I aren't enough any more."

"Anyone applied yet?" Takaki asks, gesturing to the small sign on the counter.

"A few. I have some interviews set up this week. I think I'm more nervous than they are," Yamada snorts. 

Takaki claps Yamada on the shoulder. "If anyone asks, just tell them you have a baby face, and then move on," he says, only half joking himself. Takaki was around when Yamada first set up shop, heard all the speculation that it wouldn't last the six month period, let alone a year. He's certain Yamada's not ignorant to the gossip that surrounds him.

At this, Yamada puffs out his cheeks, but dodges when Takaki tries to pinch them, laughing.

"Hire more people, then let me know when you're ready," Takaki repeats, all playfulness vanishing. "Or I'll come back up here and drag you back. I won't take no for an answer."

When he's managed to wrangle at least half of a promise from Yamada, Takaki himself goes to select some new books and trades in old ones for the new secondhand section of the bookstore.

"Visit again soon!" Yamada calls, waving. "Don't let months and months pass without coming to talk to me!"

"Come down to the beach and then we'll talk," Takaki retorts, but there's no bite in his voice.

Because Aya can't say no to anybody, and Chinen and Inoo still begrudge Takaki "stealing her away from the fine city and into the wild", Chinen's exact words, they'd apparently gotten a promise out of her to accompany them shopping some time ago, and have now come to collect. It's another hour before they leave the complex, Chinen with a new leather jacket, Inoo with new pants and some t-shirts, all with Aya's firm stamp of approval.

They have lunch near their beloved campus, at the restaurant that Aya used to work at, that they could only afford a total of three times as students. The first time, they'd vowed to label it their "official group joint for celebrating our friendship," Inoo's words. There are more drawings on the wall to admire since the last time they came, and Hikaru, now promoted to Head Chef and co-owner, even comes to talk to them for fifteen minutes, reminiscing about the times Inoo and Aya almost fell asleep on their food, dark circles almost permanent tattoos under their eyes, and when Chinen actually did fall asleep on the couch, waiting for a table.

"The couch was calling to me," Chinen still asserts to this day. "The couch wanted to be slept on, and so I obliged." He dodges the small piece of bread crust Takaki pelts his way, and it lands on the table next to his plate.

"Show your happy faces around here more often, 'kay?" Hikaru beams at them, leaning back on his heels when he opens the door to show them out.

Chinen toys with the idea of popping by the campus to say hello and possibly scare the new batch of freshmen, but they manage to dissuade him of that idea pretty quickly, and are soon on the road for the last time of the day. Takaki wins the race down to the water from the car park, and after they've swam a little, he leads them to a spot on the little hill to watch the sunset.

"Okay, I officially envy you for having the beach right on your front door," Inoo says, slinging an arm around his shoulder. 

Takaki says nothing; just turns a smug gaze towards his friend, and gets lightly smacked in the head for it. 

Together, he and Aya whip up a number of quick, cold dishes, and when they're done the other two help bring it out onto the pagoda, where they sit in dim light, orbs hovering all around them, relishing in the comfort of good company.

*

"The best I can do in the meantime is give you this herbal medicine," Takaki says, rummaging through his medicine cabinet before he finds the right bottle. "They're effective in that they work about an hour after taken, but aren't so strong you'll sleep through your alarm in the morning, and there aren't any side effects." He scribbles out a form and hands it, along with the bottle to Koyama-san. "On days you think you need it, take two an hour before you sleep. This should tie you over until you have time to come back, but let me know if there are any problems, alright?"

In the evening, Nakajima arrives, closely followed by Juri.

"I guess you've already been to see your brother?" Takaki addresses Juri, noting his damp shorts and wet hair.

Juri looks sheepish as he digs around in his bag for a towel. "Sorry, sensei. I won't get water on the floor."

"It's okay." Takaki waves them both in. "You know where the shower is, go take one before dinner."

He carries Juri's other bag in while the boy scampers past him and into the bathroom, sending Aya a quick greeting on the way.

"Hi, Nakajima." Shutting the door, he turns to the older boy. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Nakajima replies, flashing him a smile and accompanying him through the living room and down the hallway. "I'm still sleeping better, and I got a job for the summer."

"Congratulations! What about nightmares? Wait here," he motions with a hand, ducking into the room reserved for Juri. Takaki places the bag down on the chair near the door, before ducking out again.

They continue down the corridor to the next reserved room. Takaki pushes the door open, and Nakajima steps over the threshold, turning back to face him. "Not as many as before."

Now that he's getting a closer look, Takaki notes the lines under Nakajima's eyes that don't look to have lightened a bit, but recalls the slight bounce in his step that he hasn't seen before. 

"I'll come round with another orb tonight," he offers, noting the one that's already come to hover next to Nakajima's head. "Since it's been a month, two will be more effective."

*

"Has anyone ever hit their head on one of these?" Juri asks at dinner, helping himself to a piece of steak and some coleslaw.

Takaki chokes on his own mouthful of steak, and it doesn't go unnoticed. Juri's eyes go comically wide.

" _Really?_ I was just joking. Well, kind of."

"Um, it was still during testing stage," he admits, and Aya's trying not to laugh across the table. "We were playing around with invisibility in the labs, and obviously I couldn't see it and knocked right into it." He picks at his salad. "And that's why the orbs aren't invisible."

The two boys erupt in a peal of laughter, and even Aya has difficulty keeping a straight face, even though she'd been there that day and had laughed at his shocked expression until she'd cried. After that incident, they'd worked extra hard to ensure that any trajectories made by the orbs would never collide with anything.

*

"What's his name?" Takaki asks, pausing at a two page spread in the photo album he was thumbing through. They're both photos of the same black, miniature dachshund, wrapped in a towel in one, in Nakajima's arms in another. He raises the album for Nakajima to see.

Nakajima lurches over the bed to glance at the pictures and beams. "My dog, Tamu, when he was a puppy. Isn't he cute?" 

"Very," Takaki agrees. It's another ten minutes before he leaves, after Nakajima is fast asleep, and the orb is pulsating a soft blue.

*

"Naoki-kun, you forgot your towel," Takaki calls out to the little runaway, who almost trips on the sand when he turns back around. He waves the Doraemon towel in the air until the boy returns and tugs on the edge.

"Thank you Takaki-sensei." Naoki smiles a toothy grin up at him, and Takaki retaliates by putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his cheeks.

"Okay, shoo," he says, making the motion with his hands. "Go back to your mum, I'll see you next week. Try not to get into too much trouble!" He manages one fond ruffle of hair before the boy flees to his mother, giggling all the way.

Takaki makes sure each child has been collected by at least one parent before rolling up his towel and packing away the spare floats he bought that always end up being all lent out, despite a requirement of the lessons being to provide your own floats. Someone joins him by his side just as he's throwing the last float into his bag and zipping it up.

"The kids love you," a woman remarks, hand raised to further shield her protected eyes from the sun.

"Good morning, Anne-san," Takaki greets one of his regulars, and she turns to smile at him. He smiles back, then adds, "Bunch of brats, all of them."

She laughs at him. Takaki's always liked that she doesn't hold back. "You love them," she chides, and he shrugs, because it's true. 

As always, their content to spend the stroll back to the retreat mostly in silence. He's known Anne long enough to know that she prefers it this way, that she spends so much of her time in the city talking to clients it's a relief to come here and just shut down.

"I'll help you with your things," he offers when they return, throwing the bag of floats and his rolled up towel onto the porch, but Anne waves away his offer, claiming she didn't bring much.

He follows Anne to her car anyway, as a gesture because she's both his guest and his friend, and back up the porch steps where she throws her arms around Aya when the front door is opened. Takaki picks up the bag he left earlier, and the towel, and heads to the bathroom to clean up.

When he wakes up, Juri, of course, is as delighted to see Anne as Anne is to see him, and all five of them lounge around in the living room as he, Aya and Anne reminisce about their time at university, not only for Nakajima's benefit, a year from graduating, but also for Juri, halfway through and already so jaded.

"I hated high school too," he assures Juri, whose eyes grow wide at the confession. "I almost didn't even finish." Takaki can remember wanting to drop out on no less than five separate occasions, all for a myriad of different reasons that, while at the time were obstacles, seem almost insignificant, now. Knowing what he does now, maybe it was all because Takaki has always found it difficult to sit still.

"What made you change your mind?" Juri asks. Juri has panic attacks because he doesn't _know_ , because he hasn't quite figured out that it's okay not to, sometimes, because a portion of the surrounding population will always be ignorant, and cruel.

It was the end of his second last year, after being called to the principal's office and being handed a pamphlet for a university situated in Tokyo. A university tailored for people similar to him, that he hadn't ever heard of because he'd never cared enough to look. A university with a vast number of highly specialised degree structures in addition to all of the standard ones. That one pamphlet ignited something within; for the first time, Takaki had something to work towards. "I only just passed the entrance exam." It was his interview that had saved him. "But you know," he says, because Juri needs to hear the other side, too. "It's also fine if you don't go, if you find yourself wandering onto a different path." A pamphlet, a talk with his parents, and a lifetime of helping his parents put his siblings to sleep set Takaki on his, and there's nothing to say another won't open up somewhere along the road.

For a moment, he thinks he's made Juri cry, but then the boy sniffs and puts his arms around his neck, and Takaki holds him for a while until he lets go.

*

Nakajima joins him for morning runs again this weekend, something he informs Takaki he was able to continue back in the city. They don't talk while they run, too intent on maintaining speed and stamina, but before and afterwards, when they're stretching, and when Takaki cooks breakfast, Nakajima, perched on a barstool, talks. About the sleeping birds they passed on the way back to the house, about the book he spied sitting on the coffee table that he's also read, about the long overdue _Star Wars_ marathon he wants to undertake with his brother now that they're both on summer vacation. Takaki doesn't contribute much, just listens to Nakajima's chatter over the sizzle of the pan on the stove.

They'll keep up the afternoon naps for now, but soon he'll cut it down to every other day, because Nakajima's waking up in the middle of the night less often now, and hopefully this continues. At night, Takaki switches up the dreams, sometimes reusing images he's given the boy before, and adding new things, characters in the manga Nakajima talked about just that morning, Tamu and Raiya, from the photo album, snow falling outside, because while Winter isn't Nakajima's favourite season, he does love snow.

Takaki marks all this down in his client notebook, more than half full from all the dream images of all the people he's helped, for current reference, and in case they ever need to come back. Some come back, multiple times, some Takaki hasn't heard from since he was still in the city, but he's safe in the knowledge that he's prepared, just in case.

*

His mother calls to cancel on him when he's turning into a parking spot outside the restaurant, so he lets his phone ring for a bit until setting the car to park and pulling up his handbrake before answering. He understands; sometimes patient behaviour is unpredictable, and new emergencies may pop up, but his mother still sounds so apologetic and promises to make it up to him next week, when things at the doctor's clinic will hopefully be a lot calmer.

"It's okay ma," Takaki says, leaning back against his seat. "Hang up the phone now, and go help your patients, okay? Love you." He ends up hanging up first, before his mother can apologise any more than she already has, makes up his mind in a split second, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting out of the car.

It's early enough that he beat the lunchtime rush, so in no time he's leaving the restaurant with a plastic bag filled with a couple of takeaway containers of their usual. Takaki figures that by the time he gets to his destination, it will be just in time for lunch.

The receptionist is on the phone when he walks in, but she smiles and waves at him anyway, which he reciprocates, and drops off a small cake that he'd bought for her, to which he gets a surprised look and an expression that clearly says _"You shouldn't have"_. In response to that, he puts on his best innocent face, shrugs, and continues on his way. It's been a while since he visited Chinen's office; not since well before moving, and he kind of misses bantering with Sano-san. 

Chinen is also on the phone, but his door is slightly open so Takaki lowers the hand that was about to rap on it, pushes it open a little more, and lets himself in, settling into the chair that Chinen leaves out just for Sano and him in the corner of the room.

"Oh my god I love you," Chinen breathes the moment he puts down the phone, hurrying around his desk and over to Takaki. Takaki just smirks and hands over a container.

"I know. How's your day been?"

At that, Chinen rolls his eyes, perching on the edge of his desk as he tucks into his food. "Don't even get me started," he says almost before he finishes swallowing. "If you hadn't showed up I don't know what I'd do, maybe go bug Hinako-chan downstairs or sneak out and hope nobody catches me."

Takkai, chewing on his own noodles, snorts. "That bad, huh."

"Just awful,' Chinen re-emphasises, stabbing his meat with his fork. "I can't even talk about it."

"Wanna go out?" Takaki asks. He figures it would be better than letting Chinen stew for an hour.

As it is, Chinen's already nodding and hopping off the desk, and reaching over it to pull out some books from a drawer while simultaneously throwing his empty container in the trash. "Yeah, let's go."

They wave goodbye to Hinako on their way out, but not before she wrangles out a promise from Takaki to come visit her again soon with a bat of her eyelashes and a killer smile, while Chinen stands at his shoulder and scoffs at his weak will.

They spend the short walk to the bookstore in a heated discussion on which series to try out this time that they don't pay attention to where they're going, and when it's not Yamada who greets them when they walk inside, Takaki thinks they've walked into the wrong store. He's just put his hand on Chinen's shoulder, about to steer him out, when the boy standing next to the door chirps a bright welcome. Takaki stops , because he knows that voice.

"Nakajima?" His hair is shorter, fringe no longer hindering vision, expression switching from polite to surprised in an instant, as recognition floods his features.

"Oh, hi sensei!" He beams and stands up a little straighter. Takaki winces, but leaves it be.

"Hey, Nakajima," he greets before he's jostled by the opening door.

Nakjima snaps back into employee mode immediately. "Welcome to Mountain of Comics," he greets the next customer that enters, and Takaki and Chinen both shift a few steps to let them pass through.

"How long have you been working here?" Chinen is asking when Takaki looks back.

The answer is a couple of weeks. Takaki's about to suggest they go check out their usual shelves, not wanting to disturb the boy at work, when a figure appears at the head of the stairs, face covered by the mountain of books laden in his arms.

"Well, I see Ryosuke. See you crazy cats later," Chinen says, waggling his fingers before he disappears, and _now_ Nakajima looks bemused.

"You like it here?" Takaki asks, for want of anything better to say. Then again, it seems like it was the right thing to say, because Nakajima brightens.

"I love it. Everyone's nice here. I mean, Shida's as scary as usual, but, I'll manage."

"Good to hear." He's glad that Yamada's found more people to hire; Takaki doesn't think it'll do anything for the bags underneath Yamada's eyes, the workaholic, but maybe at least he'll be able to convince the man to take a break. "I'm gonna-" he gestures to the shelves, and Nakajima nods and waves him off, eyes crinkling at the corners. 

"Hope you find something of interest," he says before turning his attention back to the door and greeting the newest customers.

They return to Chinen's office with an impressive haul. Takaki's tempted to just sit in the corner to read while Chinen works, but he has other appointments to take care of so he decides to leave before he gives in. 

"See you on Friday," Chinen calls out, but it's without energy, glasses already jammed onto his face as he peers at the computer screen.

*

Most times after that, whenever Takaki goes to the bookstore, Nakajima's there and beams at him from where he's perched on a ladder re-shelving a book, or coming down the stairs with a box of new stock. He can give back to Yamada and Shida as good as he gets, and picks up things at a pace Yamada's impressed by, Takaki's told. Yamada hired a number of other recruits, but Takaki sees Nakajima the most often.

"So are you going to take up my invitation now?" he asks in his most honeyed voice, raising an eyebrow at Yamada, leaning against the wall as he glances over the store.

Yamada laughs so hard he almost topples over, but recovers quick enough to refold his arms and bat long eyelashes. "That invitation is still open? Why, I'd be honoured to."

Takaki smirks. "Of course it is. It's about time you came down, anyway. They can handle the store without you for a few days." Far be it to nag about Yamada's workaholic tendencies because that's a case of pot calling the kettle black if he's ever seen one, but Yamada doesn't know when to stop sometimes, and those circles have been alarming him for months.

Yamada hums his assent. "It feels weird, the idea of not being here everyday," he says, and Takaki gets that; he does.

"Things will be okay," he asserts firmly, because Yamada needs to hear it, even if he already believes.

"Maybe in a couple of weeks?" Yamada asks. "I should be ready to take a break, by then."

Takaki really wants to say "You were ready to take a break two months ago," but Yamada's his friend, so he keeps his mouth shut and agrees.

*

"Last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" Inoo hollers from the front door when he arrives on Friday afternoon, stopping just long enough to drop his bags on the luggage rack and chirp a warm greeting to Aya. 

Takaki bolts upright from the couch; they meet eyes from across the room, and then they're both running, Takaki vaulting over the back of the couch as Inoo darts out the door.

They both have pretty bad stamina, slowing to a walk immediately once they're in front of the gate, so it's not long before Chinen, still laughing at them, races past, heading straight for the sand. "You're both rotten eggs," he calls back over his shoulder. Takaki looks towards Inoo, making a face and shrugging.

"Hey well, we can always hold him underwater and tell him it's a diving lesson," Inoo says, and that's it, Takaki's cracking up and they're leaning on each other for support as they stumble towards Chinen, already wearing an expression of impatience.

Somehow, Takaki finds himself buried underneath a mound of sand, Chinen and Inoo hovering over him with buckets Chinen grabbed from the house in their hands. He basks in the sun while they do their thing, frowning and tutting and making thoughtful faces as they circle his body. When they step back with satisfied sounds, Takaki takes off his sunglasses and looks down.

"Ooh, I have nice boobs."

Chinen preens, while Inoo roars with laughter in the background. "Of course. Only the best for my Yuyan."

Takaki pats the new lumps on his chest, eyeing them with fondness. "I hope you get pictures of this."

"Of course," Inoo says, looking outraged. "Can't let our masterpiece go to waste." He digs around in the pockets of his board shorts and pulls out his phone.

He's rearranging his face into his best smoulder, looking up at Inoo through his eyelashes when Chinen puts a hand on Inoo's phone. 

"I don't think Inoo will need this," he tells them both. At their questioning looks he tilts his head to the side.

When Takaki turns to look, he sees Nakajima walking towards them in beach attire, trying not to laugh, huge camera in his hands. 

Takaki tries to play it cool.

"Hey Nakajima," he calls out, waving. "Could you take a picture for us please?" he asks after making introductions.

"My pleasure," Nakajima raises his camera as he circles Takaki. "'Tis what I'm here for, after all."

He snaps a few photos at different angles, all four of them giggling like teenagers, until Takaki decides that he's had enough of lying in the sand, and that he's hungry and craving pizza, specifically.

He needs the help of all three to get him out of the sand, but then he's calling Aya to come down, and they're ordering pizza and convincing Takizawa to join them and making themselves comfortable on deck chairs underneath the big umbrellas situated at the shopfront, watching the sun disappear into the horizon while they gorge on pizza and poke fun at each other. 

*

"You should call me Takaki," he tells Nakajima on Saturday when Chinen's locked himself in his room working on the clinic's accounts, and Inoo's off diving, because every time Nakajima called him sensei last night, he winced. "Nobody really calls me sensei, unless it's the first meeting." He's aware it can come across as unprofessional, but Takaki's office is literally _on the beach_ , and he figures he's known Nakajima long enough to make the request. The term has always made him uncomfortable. Sensei is his ma, not him.

Nakajima tilts his head at him. "Okay," he says at last. "Call me Yuto then."

Takaki raises an eyebrow, but Nakajima continues to plough on. 

"I mean it," he insists. "We have common friends, Yamada tells me you go to the bookstore all the time, and I tell everybody to call me Yuto after a time, anyway."

That makes sense. Takaki exhales slowly. "Okay, Yuto."

*

"I wish I could paint," Yuto sighs wistfully, out of the blue on Monday morning, staring out the window as they drive into the city. His car was in service, he'd explained, was about to take the first train home, before Takaki intervened. "Well, you are the sleep expert," he'd mumbled through his yawn, obediently flopping back onto his pillow, and that was the end of that.

Now, making their way through morning traffic, Takaki asks, "Yeah?"

Yuto slouches in his seat, head lolling to the side. Takaki keeps his eyes on the road, but he can see him in his peripheral, the way Yuto's hair is sticking up from a lack of brushing, his glasses on the verge of falling off before being pushed up.

"My dreams have been nice recently," Yuto says, giving him a small smile, "and I'm actually remembering them, for once. I just wish I could transfer that onto paper, but I'm awful at drawing."

"Last night's dream?" At Yuto's nod, Takaki's curiosity grows. He hadn't interfered with Yuto's dreams last night, to assess the extent of his healing, and this morning, since Yuto had said it wasn't a nightmare, and he'd felt peaceful, Takaki hadn't probed any further. He usually doesn't, with these kinds of dreams, because the ones that don't come from him are personal, and he would never want to invade. Still, "Do you want to tell me about it?" 

Yuto doesn't respond immediately, so Takaki gears up to change the subject, but then he begins to speak. "It was a rose garden, a really pretty one, in front of a cottage." He sighs, thens shrugs as Takaki pulls into the parking lot of Yuto's apartment complex. "You can't take photos of dreams. Thanks for the ride, Takaki."

*

Takaki often feels too young to be running a clinic, can't quite wrap around his head that he's been doing this for two years. There's a reason he packed up to the beach after only one - it's the only place he feels most like himself, and when he feels like he's suffocating, the sea is right at his doorstep. Sometimes he takes his surfboard and sometimes he goes diving, but sometimes he just strolls barefoot to the sea, immerses himself ankle-deep in water, and just watches the waves lick the sand. As long as he has the clinic he'll always have to be responsible for others; probably feel more responsible for them than he maybe should, but here, he feels more at ease, more in control, less as though he's going to be washed away with nothing to hold onto.

*

He enters the kitchen one morning to find Aya with an orange orb floating behind her. She waves at him, her other hand clutching a large mug of tea. 

Takaki cocks his head for a moment. "Did you dream about yoga?" She nods. "Want the day off?" She shakes her head. 

"I'm okay," she says, lowering the cup. "I don't need one yet."

He narrows his eyes; she's just as much of a workaholic as he is. 

"Tomorrow," she insists before he can open his mouth. "I'll take one tomorrow, there's too much to do today." 

"Okay," he relents, only because it's true they'll be busy today, and while she's taught him how to do aura readings, Aya prefers to do them herself. "Tomorrow."

She goes to the city the next morning, to see her parents and friends, so once he's done check ups on the overnight patients and bid them goodbye, Takaki has the place to himself for the last half of the day. He suddenly wishes Aya was back, because after last night's dream, his mind half expects electronic gadgets to come jumping out at him.

It's ridiculous, of course, but dreams are often so.

Still, it's not as scary as the time he dreamt about being x-rayed, so he completes his paperwork with only the barest of flinches — the digital photo frame on his desk is looking particularly ominous today in the corner of his eye — and then, because there's still time before dinner, gets up to start on the cleaning. 

The dream isn't any less accurate than others he's had. He does indeed wander through life as it happens to him; avoids taking as many risks as possible.

It's asking him what he wants, right now, but right now, Takaki doesn't know. He's been happy with his life, but something, somewhere, is apparently missing.

He gives up on vacuuming when it shudders in his hand, as though it'll jump up and attack him at any moment.

*

"Did you always enjoy your time at university?" Yuto asks on his next Friday night visit, breaking the second set of six second silence after an internal count of three.

Takaki cracks open an eye. Yuto's eyes fly open not long after, immediately flickering to Takaki.

"Not always, no," Takaki replies, giving up and opening both his eyes. Yuto is clearly distracted, and they won't be able to progress with his mind elsewhere. "I mean, there were other things I'd rather be doing, sometimes." He shifts to a more comfortable position on the floor as Yuto snorts.

"But you never had any doubt that's where you were supposed to be?" Yuto presses after a moment of silence, before looking stricken. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry," he mumbles, looking away. "It's just that, I remember what you said to Juri that night."

Takaki hums, massaging his sore thigh. He's not a psychologist, but occasionally his patients will come to him for advice. He can't pretend to understand all their problems, and know the solution, but Takaki can listen. He's sure Yuto has heard all the advice there is to give, however, so Takaki launches into a story instead. 

"My favourite memory of uni is sleeping overnight in the library," he begins, and Yuto sits forward, uncrossing his legs so they're dangling off the edge of the bed. "We'd been studying for exams, and a library that's open for twenty four seven is basically inviting students to sleep there, so we did." He bites back a laugh, remembering the next part. "We ended up playing cards with the deck Inoo brought until midnight, and Chinen was ten minutes late to his exam."

It was far from the only time they did, lying in sleeping bags on the fourth floor of the building; Aya somewhere over to his right, Chinen curled up right to her, because, in his words, "he wouldn't let anything happen to Aya-chan," Inoo on his left, who sometimes talked. 

"You sound like you had a really fun time in university," Yuto says wistfully.

Takaki can't deny that. When things sucked, they sucked a lot, but it didn't suck all the time. "Yeah. It helped, being friends with the others."

Yuto brightens. "I should ask them for university stories one day."

He groans at that, but somehow, Takaki finds he doesn't mind. "You just want embarrassing stories, don't you?"

Yuto's smile only becomes wider. "You didn't say no."

Takaki pulls a face. "Come on, breathing exercises."

They rearrange themselves back into cross-legged positions, and Takaki begins the process. Inhale for six counts, exhale for three. Inhale, then exhale. Repeat. 

"Okay, go nap," he says once they've opened their eyes again. Yuto spares him a brief nod before flopping backwards into bed, pulling up the covers over him on his way down.

*

"What was I supposed to dream about last night?" Yuto asks on Sunday morning at breakfast, pulling out his stool to sit on it. Takaki freezes over cutting apples, knife wavering in the air.

He wills himself to relax and tries to search back. After all, an out-of-place dream is what he's here to interpret. "Flying." He lowers the knife and looks at Yuto. "Why, did you dream of something different?"

Yuto looks thoughtful as he chews on his lip. "Yeah. I was on a ship; I think I was the Captain? We were going somewhere, on a journey."

So, definitely not flying, then.

He's happy, but at the same time, Takaki feels a pang in his chest. It irritates him — he's never felt like this before, and he doesn't want to dwell on why he's feeling it now. Takaki pushes the thought to one side and slides the bowl of fruits towards Yuto.

Yuto spears a slice with his fork. "What does it mean?" 

Takaki helps himself too. "That you won't have to be a patient here for much longer."

*

Takaki's mood deteriorates sometime after that, so by the time Yuto leaves on Monday morning his temper's at sky high, and Aya's shut herself in her office, after giving him a pointed look.

He does what he usually does when he's in one of his 'moods'. Packs his bag and lets himself out.

They have two booked appointments today, but Aya will take them both. 

He doesn't want to think about work right now; doesn't want to think about anything. Takaki dumps his bag the moment he reaches the sand, tears his t-shirt off and lets it fall. 

Then he sprints to the waters edge, where he wades in without hesitation until he can no longer stand, and lets the water take him. He swims, not looking back, ignoring everybody else around him, propels himself forward with aggressive freestyle motions all the way until he reaches the flags. Once there, he treads water for a bit, assessing, but it's not enough. 

Takaki submerges himself underwater again, and this time, swims horizontally; flag to flag and back again. 

Only then does he head back to shore, with a clearer mind and a lighter heart; Takaki doesn't feel so upset anymore.

*

Anne knocks on the door a week before she travels overseas for six months, head tilted in greeting when he opens the door. Takaki's offered one smile before she's beckoning him to step outside, which he does without question. She turns, leaving her suitcase on the porch, and he follows her along their usual path, shutting the gate behind them.

The minute they hit the beach their shoes are in their hand, but it's twenty minutes of sauntering before she speaks.

"You should think about yourself more," she tells him, turning to face him and walking backwards.

He lets out a huff of amusement. "I do." He gestures grandly with both hands to the vast expanse of beach all around them. "I did all this for myself."

She laughs, not unkind. "And was that the last time?" she asks, eyebrow lifted.

Takaki doesn't answer. He doesn't need to.

He doesn't talk about the really tall boy who's caught his attention, who makes his breath catch in his throat every time he wanders into the living room half-asleep, who won't be around for much longer. Takaki has carefully filed those thoughts far away in the back of his mind for the past couple of weeks, and he's not about to revisit them now.

Instead he jokes, "You're choosing to say this to me now, when Hollywood's taking my favourite actress away from me?"

She laughs again, but it's immediately followed by a sigh. "Someone needs to tell you." Something flashes across her face then, a glimpse of sadness perhaps, but it quickly vanishes. "You won't even notice I'm gone," she adds. "I'll be back before you know it."

Now it's his turn to raise an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that, or yourself?"

Another moment of silence falls between them, and Anne turns back around. "Both," she admits without glancing at him.

*

That night, he dreams of angry waves crashing against the shore, water lapping at his feet. The cool touch of the water relaxes him, and Takaki answers her call; wades his way further into the ocean like he has so many times before, faces the next wave without fear. It inches closer and rises higher: Takaki meets it halfway, lets its embrace cascade all around him.

When the shield recedes, leaving him dry, Takaki wakes up out of breath and with his heart pounding, shaking and sweating. 

*

Over the course of the next week, Yuto has three more similar dreams in rapid succession. He calls Takaki on Wednesday to inform him of this development. 

"Come on Friday afternoon for one last appointment," he says over the phone, reaching over to check his desk calendar. "And you should stay for dinner, if you're free," he adds before hanging up, flushing. His dreams, too, have been recurring. Takaki hasn't been to the beach since they started.

On Friday, Aya does one last aura reading before confirming that everything is indeed okay, and Yuto's free to leave.

Takaki leads him back to his office to fill out the final forms for his client release. 

"If you feel yourself regressing, remember to let us know," he says, holding out a pen for Yuto to sign with. He thinks back to Anne's words, and his dreams, and hesitates. "Feel free to come back for a visit, too, if you want." 

Yuto's answering smile makes it all worth it. "I'd like that."

Afterwards, Yuto sprawls out on the couch reading a book while he and Aya continue with appointments all the way up until their guests arrive.

"Glad you could make it," he says when he opens the door to Yamada's beaming face.

"So am I." Yamada beams, lightly knocking into Takaki's shoulder. "I brought the troublemakers."

"You really shouldn't have," he teases, causing both Shida and Chinen to scowl at him.

He and Yamada take charge of the grilling while the girls use the stove inside; Yuto offers his services and hovers between both parties, but in the end gets dragged down to sit beside Chinen and clink glasses. 

"They have enough hands on deck anyway, come talk to me Yutti."

In an instant, both he and Yamada make it a point to grumble about this in loud voices, but Takaki mood falls when he notices the guilt on Yuto's face, so he drops it and focuses on cooking.

They'd started after the girls, in favour of chatting first and throwing back beers, as well as because meat cooks faster, so the girls come outside right when they're dishing up. Deck chairs and rugs were set up in advance, so they all take their spots and dig right in.

Takaki's felt out of sorts for the past week, but tonight, surrounded by friends, he feels calm and happy.

He's sitting on the porch watching Yamada chase Chinen on the sand when Yuto comes up to him. Takaki tilts his glass to him. "Thanks for everything, Takaki."

Takaki smiles and raises his own. "Anytime."

Yuto drops down beside him, and they sit like this for a while, in silence. Takaki tries to enjoy it, but it seems like it's too over soon when Shida yells at Yuto to help her beat Yamada and Chinen in a game of charades.

Yutos sighs and gets up; Takaki tries to conceal his own sigh. "Okay, I'm coming!" Yuto calls back, and after a little wave, jogs off to rejoin the others.

He and Aya share a glance — hers is amused at first, but then she lifts an eyebrow. He shrugs and looks away, because Takaki doesn't know what's going on with him himself.

 

Back when they first moved out of his professor's office, Takaki made it a point of dropping by every so often when he went up to the city. with things getting busier, he hasn't done so in a while, but just when he's made a note to himself to schedule a visit in for the following week, the professor calls him one morning for an update, and to ask if he'd be willing to take on an intern.

Takaki blinks. "Someone wants to intern... with me?"

The thought is unfathomable. 

"His name is Okamoto Keito. Last year of undergrad, fascinated with your work. If you accept, I'll send him over whenever you're ready."

He's still confused. "What would I do with an intern, sir?" he asks, and gets laughed at.

"He'll be doing the same thing you and Aya did with me; observe, take notes, ask questions. Don't worry about grading anything — the only administrative work you'd have to do is a final question review at the end of the six months; the rest will be taken care of by me."

"Um," Takaki says. "Can I get back to you sir? This afternoon?"

Aya, of course, thinks it's a great idea. 

"It would be a great opportunity for him," she says. 

It's like she's forgotten she was terrified of her own internship experience, and had to be coaxed by Takaki into stepping foot into the clinic.

Or maybe she hasn't, because she follows it up with, "I think you'd be a great mentor."

"I don't really know how to be a mentor," he says honestly, but he calls the Professor back that afternoon to accept. They decide that Keito will come down for a few days for a visit, to get a feel for the place, and for the three of them to meet.

*

Yamada calls him that same evening.

"Yo, Takaki," he greets when Takaki picks up the phone. "Mind if I stay over this weekend?"

"Not at all. Didn't I say you'd get addicted to this lifestyle?"

Yamada snorts. "Yeah, yeah, I'm envious. But at the same time, I got a bookstore to run. You know how it is, business."

"Come on over whenever you want, stay however long you want," he tells Yamada. "Mi casa es su casa."

"Can I bring a friend?" Yamada asks after a bark of laughter and a moment's hesitation.

"Sure, that's fine." Takaki wonders who it is, but doesn't ask; just assumes that since he wasn't given a name, he's not acquainted with the person. 

This is why, when Yuto shows up on his doorstep behind Yamada on Friday afternoon, Takaki becomes worried and thinks he's there for a checkup. He panics. People never come so quickly after an initial run. He must have done something wrong.

"Have things been getting worse?" he asks, gesturing at the both of them to come inside. 

Yamada furrows his brow for a beat before he realises. "Oh! he's here with me. We're gonna be crashing your sweet place here for the weekend."

Takaki groans. "You had me worried there for a moment."

"Sorry," Yuto says, abashed, still standing behind Yamada.

Takaki waves a hand. "It's fine. Welcome, make yourself at home. I'll show you your rooms."

They get the rooms reserved for his guests, around the corner. after which they dump their suitcases and wave goodbye and run outside.

Takaki looks mournfully at their retreating backs. He still has work to do before the day ends, else he'd be there too.

Takaki doesn't like the implications of the emotions that are stirred up inside at the sudden appearance of Yuto; the emotions that he's _still_ been pushing to the side, instead of dealing with them like he maybe should. He sighs, retreating back to his office to resume concentrating on reading client charts, and not on one of the boys just a few minutes away.

*

Keito arrived the day before them — all three meet on the beach and look to have hit it off immediately, if the fact that they come back dripping wet and doubled over with laughter is any indication. 

He shares a look with Aya before turning back to the barbecue while she reaches for the three towels they stacked next to the door. 

"Go clean up as fast as you can," she tells them. "Otherwise there's no guarantee there'll be enough food for you all."

Of course, she's joking, and they all end the night slouched in their chairs, nursing their stomachs.

"Run tomorrow," Takaki groans, his head lolling back. "Who's with me?"

*

Yamada takes over his kitchen on Saturday, for the _entire_ day. He doesn't even let anybody step a foot over the imaginary line bordering the kitchen and the living room, save for Yuto, his trusty kitchenhand. They'd stuck out, after the run, to buy the day's groceries at the beachfront store; Takaki is a little afraid, and very awed.

"Don't even complain," Chinen advises him, having arrived that morning, watching the spectacle with his chin on his hands. "A day's worth of free meals, you'd be insane to turn that away."

He'd taken one look at Keito and told Takaki to keep him. They were going to, anyway, but it's always nice to have validation.

"Surely you didn't come all the way here to cook for us for a whole day," Takaki protests. Free meals or not, he's the host.

Yamada shrugs, dicing up some radish faster than Takaki can even process. It's seriously scary, the way Yamada wields a knife, and it's only breakfast time. "I miss cooking for people, and I'm staying at your place. An exchange of services between friends. That's all this is."

And Takaki can't really argue with logic like that.

"Come, Yuya, let's play a game," Chinen says, hopping off the stool and leading him to the living room sofa by the hand, where Inoo and Keito already sit.

If he had any self preservation instincts at all he'd say no, but he doesn't, and proceeds to get very thoroughly trashed by Chinen, and then subsequently Inoo, in a game of Patience each. He at least beats Keito. Only just, but he does. Small victories.

"Breakfast is ready," Yamada and Yuto holler right after Inoo's triumphant cry. The smell of tofu has them all scrambling to their feet and rushing to the kitchen.

"Remind me to never play with you guys again," Keito says.

*

He finds time to sink down next to Yuto after dinner, in the living room, watching the day's most prominent news items, while the others loiter in the kitchen, chatting loudly and picking at the leftovers. Yuto turns to smile at him in acknowledgement, then shifts his attention back to the television.

"How are you?" Takaki asks once the news stations' jingle plays for the final time that night, signalling a change in program.

Yuto sips his beer before answering. "I'm good. Sleeping much better than last year, thanks to a certain someone." He flashes a grin, takes another swig of his drink. "I'm still working at Yamada's, thank goodness. I swear it's the only thing keeping me sane."

Takaki hums his approval. Underneath the glow of the candles dotting the living room, the lines on his face are less prominent, and Yuto himself looks happier. "I'm glad to hear it."

"What about you?" Yuto asks. He's completely facing Takaki now, and their knees are almost touching.

Takaki fights to keep his breathing steady. The short reprieve he'd had from being in close contact with Yuto allowed him to forget, somewhat, the feelings that somehow developed. Work continued as usual, clients came and went, and Takaki was never short of things to occupy his mind. But now, this one visit seems to have brought them all rushing back, and is it Takaki's imagination, or are they stronger than before?

"I'm fine. Since the clinic's doing well, I am," is what he ends up saying.

"Plus the added bonus of the beach in front of you right?" Yuto grins. He doesn't appear to have noticed anything strange, so now Takaki's fight is against looking too relieved.

He manages to return the smile. "That too."

*

Before he leaves on Sunday, Yuto insists on helping Takaki and Aya clean the place.

"Seriously, you guys cooked for us, and you're supposed to be guests!" Takaki protests, trying to bat Yuto's hand away from the mop. "It's fine, just enjoy the rest of your stay."

Yuto's too fast for him and skips away, mop in hand. "Technically, Yamada was the one who cooked, I was just a glorified movable kitchen bench. Let me do my part. Yamada's packing anyway, so I'm not allowed in either of our rooms."

Takaki grumbles and shares a baleful look at Aya across the room, but Yuto ignores them both, singing happily under his breath.

When everyone else has left, they sit Keito down and tell him that they'd be happy to have him stop by once a month.

*

When Takaki was younger, one recurring dream he had was of being submerged under a waterfall, trapped on the ocean's floor. For months he'd tried to escape, struggling upwards with all his might, only to crash back down against the continuous, beating pressure. Until the day he graduated high school and began the slow, painstaking journey to the top, thereby breaking the water's surface and opening his eyes to the sun.

He learnt to listen to his own dreams from that moment on, began to truly understand what it meant by dreams projecting what the subconsciousness already knows or desires.

It doesn't, of course, mean he always listens; in fits of rebellion he's often waited until he was trapped again, until the situation was dire, until every fibre of his being screams at him to take action. 

Tonight he dreams of rope, watches a game of tug of war between a boy with a permanent scowl, fringe covering his eyes, and a boy with a scar on his lip from when he fell off his bike, and he knows what it's trying to say.

He wakes up too soon, and yet he dreamt for long enough, so it's time for another distraction. Luckily there's plenty of work to do. Takaki draws out conversations with his clients, holds back his diagnosis until Keito's given it a shot, vacuums the place until it shines.

If Aya notices, she keeps her mouth shut, but only for that day. The dreams continue; if not of tug of war, the reappearance of fierce waves. At the end of the week, she corners him when he's mopped half the kitchen floor, leaning her elbows on the kitchen counter.

"Want to talk about it?" There's an orb in her hand, and it's glowing orange.

He doesn't stop mopping, but Takaki manages to plaster a smile onto his face. "Talk? Not really. Everything's great."

Her sigh is resigned and she shrugs, as though she didn't really expect him to say yes. "You know where I am if you do, okay?"

She makes him look her in the eye and doesn't leave until he nods.

*

He should have known Aya wouldn't have left it at that.

"You're going out with your family," she'd chirped the minute their last morning client had left, and pushed him out the door.

Takaki sibling outings are really an excuse for ferreting out information, interrogation style, because Yui is nosy and none of them have any choice but to listen to her. As the youngest, Yuma gets scrutinised under the microscope first, until they're all satisfied that his final year of university is going without a hitch and that he's still treating his sweet girlfriend the way he ought to, or he'll be hearing from both his sisters, and it's only when his face has successfully turned a bright shade of red that they turn to Takaki himself. He sighs, and braces himself for the worst.

"Works fine, still getting customers, I'm not spending every waking moment of my time on the beach even though I would love to, and I'm treating Aya the way she deserves, though she's too good for me," he pre-empts, but if he thought it was enough, he's not the brother he thought he was. 

By now, it's just a tactic to save some time, really.

Yui accepts his donation of pork from his own plate and purses her lips as she chews. "Inoo and Chinen still treat it like a hotel?"

"All the time."

She seems pleased at this. "Good. At least there are people there to look after you," she says, and then following their ritual, promptly begins to wave away his protests that he's a grown man. 

Figuring his interrogation time is over, Takaki points a finger at his other sister. "So I heard you have a new someone."

For so long he's been subjected to the relentless questioning of his sisters, it's supremely satisfying to be on the other side for a change. Beside him Yui cackles in delight, and even Yuma's grin is sharp as Yuu gapes at him from across the table.

Like always though she's quick to recover, closing her mouth and sitting up straight. "Yes. He's nice, and he makes me happy, and you can meet him next week when we go to Mum and Dad's for dinner."

Takaki smiles brightly at his sister. "Consider me sold."

His success makes him forget about being careful, when, once they've finished eating and are wandering around the mall, the microphone is turned back to him with more vengeance than before. He takes entirely too long to voice any sort of denial when asked about a potential interest, distracted by the image of the boy that surfaces in his mind, which, of course, is clue enough.

Yuu demands, "Client or someone else?"

Takaki says, "Um." 

Three sets of eyes grow wide in sync, and he hurries to backtrack. "Past client. We're friends now, I think. Kind of. And nothing's happened so stop looking so eager for dirt, because there's nothing."

Yui narrows her eyes. "Are you feeling guilty Yuya?" When he doesn't respond, she frowns, tilting her head. "Why? There's nothing to be guilty about."

"I-I," he stammers, not really knowing what he was going to say. He really does not want to have this conversation.

"You deserve happiness, bro." Yuu reaches over to place her hand on his. "Stop holding back," she urges. "You're only making yourself miserable."

Takaki scrunches up his nose and makes a noise of dissent. "It's just a small crush," he admits. "Plus, I'm really busy at the clinic — we've even got an intern, now."

Yui scoffs at him, raising her arm to hail a water. "If you say so," she says, sceptical, but the waiter arrives then to save him.

She turns away to order dessert and he sighs, glad for his time in the spotlight to be over for good, at last.

Or so he assumed. 

"So tell us about your intern," Yui says once the waiter's walked away, resting her hands on her chin.

*

It's as though his sisters took away all the fight from him — now, when thoughts of Yuto infiltrate his mind, Takaki doesn't try to ignore them.

Sometimes, Takaki's willing to admit that they provide a sort of comfort when he's alone, walking along the edge of the sand after his runs to stretch out his muscles, at night, before he drifts into slumber. Keep him company when he's alert in the tower, a few families scattered here and there but easy to keep an eye on.

And he indulges in them, when the gentle waves pose no threat. 

In his mind, the waves turn into waterfalls. 

*

He gets no warning, the next time. 

"He offered to drive us," Chinen announces when Takaki exits his office and startles upon finding three extra people in his living room.

Maybe not a good idea to give Chinen a key, then.

And "offered to drive us" is Chinen-speak for "asked him to drive us."

Sandwiched between his two smirking friends, Yuto is blushing. "I hope I'm not being an inconvenience."

Takaki's crossed the room to placate Yuto before he even realises. "No, no it's fine. Really. I'm glad you could make it. You can have the same room as last time, if you want. Nobody's using it."

"I'm going to help Yutti with his homework," Chinen declares before he tugs Yuto by the hand to the guest corridor to dump their luggage.

Which leaves Inoo sprawled out on one of the sofas.

Takaki just blinks. "Yutti?" he asks, in the end. 

Inoo looks like he's struggling not to laugh. "Yeah, I don't know either. Just enjoy it before Yuto gets used to the nickname."

*

As much as he wants to, he doesn't get much of an opportunity to talk to Yuto until Sunday night. Saturday morning brings some walk-in salarymen and women, and he's been reserved for a shift in the afternoon since two weeks ago — as a replacement for Kojima-san, who's having a baby.

He teaches on Sunday morning, tries to get Chinen to join the class, who scrunches up his face in return and burrows back underneath the covers. Takaki actually has to save someone on Sunday afternoon's shift — his own, this time — after a small girl trips on the rocks, and a couple of boys who are old enough to know better dare each other to swim outside the lines.

He patches the girl up alongside soothing words, but the boys, on the other hand, get an earful. Takaki's livid by the time he hands over to Tanaka-san and heads back home; he'll have to think more about starting a Beach Safety and First Aid class, because one is clearly needed.

Even throughout dinner, prepared by Aya and Inoo, Takaki can't get himself out of the mood he's in. They try to speak to him, and he answers the best he can, but he's not as engaged tonight as usual, too deep in his frustration.

Takaki hates that he's like this in front of friends and intern, knows he's killing the atmosphere just with his presence. He ends up pushing back his chair when he can't sit still anymore. "I'm sorry guys, I've just had a rough day."

Everyone is silent when he takes his dishes to the sink and washes them, then leaves with his head down. The best he can do is to hope that they understand. 

Once in his room, Takaki reaches for the topmost book on the stack, lets it consume him for the hour or so until he finishes, and his breathing is steady. He's just started on the next one when there's a knock on his door.

It's Yuto, carrying a tray with two mugs of tea.

"Tea delivery!" he says, beaming. 

All of Takaki's remaining frustration and guilt disappears in that moment. "Thank you. Do you want to come in?"

He flushes, but Yuto brightens and nods, so Takaki steps sideways, then closes the door behind him.

"Tea," Yuto insists, reappearing at his elbow.

Takaki huffs and takes one; Yuto sets the tray down on the table and takes the other. He looks unsure, and they haven't been alone together this weekend. Takaki wants to ask after him; how school is, what his sleep is like, wants to know if he's having a good time, but before he can choose any one of these questions, Yuto beats him to it.

"Tell me a story?"

He's seen the way Yuto's eyes light up with curiosity when he and Chinen tease each other, when either he or Aya talk about the theories behind their methods, but he's never outright asked. So Takaki gestures for Yuto to sit on the chair, and tells Yuto about their abilities. About how Inoo can put his hand on any surface and know the history, how Aya can can alter people's emotions if she chooses to just by her presence in the room, a true mood maker. Chinen can levitate anything he wants to, yet he almost never uses it except when being a brat, so if you're not looking closely it looks like he doesn't have any powers at all. He always tells people he can make their hearts lift though, and it's Chinen, and they're friends, so maybe it's true and he already did.

Yuto hangs onto his every word, almost forgets to finish his tea, and Takaki, well, Takaki continues to fall.

*

Later, once he's gotten ready for bed, Yuto long gone back outside to play games with Keito, there's another knock, and the door swings open.

Takaki's hanging up his clean laundry, so doesn't bother turning around. "I don't know why we bother keeping a room for you, still."

There's a rustle of sheets as the intruder no doubt makes himself comfortable on Takaki's bed. "You sleep better with me around," Chinen says through a yawn.

Which, to be fair, Takaki can't deny.

When he himself has changed and settled in on the right side of the bed, Chinen speaks. "I took him here because I thought he was relapsing and needed a break. He seems okay now, though." With that, he shuts his eyes and is snoring within minutes.

*

They become so busy around the clinic that Takaki has less opportunity to go to the city now, but they get used to things at the clinic with Keito — the clients don't mind his presence during consultations, what he's learning seems to satisfy the Professor, and most of all, Takaki's learnt to associate Keito's arrival with other visitors.

This month brings the most they've ever had at the same time before, and even Inoo comes up to him and admits that he was right to stick to his gut feeling about needing so many rooms.

It's rare that Takaki's felt so vindicated.

"You can't come to us, so we come to you!" Yamada bellows, waves his glass in the air, then takes a large swig.

"Sounds like some kind of slogan," Inoo says. "Where the product is our esteemed company." His eyes brighten. "Like hosts! We're Takaki's private host club."

"Whatever did I do to deserve such a fine bunch of lads?" Takaki deadpans amongst loud snickers.

From the other side of the porch, Chinen blows him a kiss. "Why, become the kind of man we all want to serve," he replies.

The breeze tonight is characteristic of a late October evening chill, but it was an unanimous decision to take advantage of one of the last nights before it got really too cold to stay outside for prolonged periods of time. Takaki is going to miss sitting on these deck chairs for the next three months. 

Yuto has his camera out tonight, taking pictures of the crowd laughing and drinking, wriggling to keep themselves warm, making stupid faces. Takaki is one of these culprits — every so often he'll catch Yuto's eyes, camera poised high in his hands, and the urge is too strong to resist.

"What about a group photo?" he asks after ten or so snapshots of him and Chinen squishing their faces together like they're in a photo booth, with the occasional invasion from the other four, so Yuto brings his tripod out, and the fun continues. 

When an envelope arrives the next week with a stack of developed photos, Takaki chooses one of the group ones, and wastes no time in purchasing a frame for it and sticking it up on his mantle.

*

Takaki doesn't think there'll be any universe in which he doesn't dread the last couple of months of the year. He hated this time of year when he was a student, and now that he's working, everybody else who hates this time of the year flocks to him in drones.

Because the weather's gotten colder, lessons have finished for the year and Takaki's needed for less lifeguard shifts. Even so, he and Aya make the decision to open the clinic up seven days a week instead of five, just so they're able to keep up with patient after patient.

Lines blur between the days as they work with continued focus.

Then on a Thursday, the routine gets broken and Aya gets yelled at by a client who's too wound up to be reasonable, and since Aya doesn't alter emotions without consent, Takaki has to step in and evict them. They've spoken about this before, how Aya shouldn't feel afraid to stand up for herself, but she's worn to the point where everything's more difficult.

They're both tired and jaded and need a break but they can't, not yet, not when there's so many people to help. Takaki thinks that at least maybe he'll be able to see Yuto, so this month won't totally be a disaster.

Only then of course Yuto doesn't come.

Takaki doesn't think about it when Keito arrives alone — last time they hitched a ride together, but it's not to say it'll happen every time.

Then Chinen calls after dinner to say he had to stay back in the office, and that he'll take the train down tomorrow.

Takaki's heart sinks. "Oh, okay then. See you tomorrow."

He can't be too disappointed, after all Yuto doesn't explicitly state when he comes. But still, something inside twinges, and all he do is to keep working, to shut down the part of the brain that refuses to let this go.

*

"I feel as though I haven't seen your face in ages," Chinen remarks the next time Takaki is finally able to make his way to the city for lunch. It may well be true, since the last time Chinen came to do maintenance, Takaki had to spend all his time inside either his office or patient rooms.

Takaki smirks. "Want to take a picture?"

"Eh," Chinen says. "I don't like it that much."

When they finish eating, Chinen turns devilish eyes on him. "So Yutti asked about you the other day. You should go see him."

Takaki doesn't even know what to do with that statement. "I haven't seen him in a while," he says instead of asking when Chinen became so close with Yuto. "He's probably busy. End of the year is always a bad time."

Chinen's only response is a long suffering sigh. "Just go see him, Yuyan."

He'd convinced himself before leaving the house that he didn't need to go and visit Yuto, assuming he was even working today, so it irks him that one mention from Chinen is enough to make him change his mind.

Yuto is in fact working today and spots him first; he bounds across the floor to meet Takaki at the front desk. "Hi! I haven't seen you in ages!"

Takaki is surprised, but no less glad, to see him in such high spirits. "Work tried to kill me," he says. "I only just managed to escape being strangled and stuffed in a bag." When Yuto chokes a laugh, he amends it. "No but we opened the clinic for seven days temporarily, Aya and I have been swamped. Today was the first time I could escape."

"And you came to see me?" Yuto's only teasing, even though it's the truth. "I'm flattered." 

Yuto explains that he had a group project November, preventing him from having any free time, but that hopefully with Christmas soon, things might wind down. "Oh, and did I mention that it's good to see you?" he asks, brightening. "This is the first shift I've been able to take in a couple of weeks." 

"It's good to see you too," is all Takaki is able to say before Yamada brushes past.

"Exchange numbers or something, don't distract my employee while he's working," Yamada scolds them.

"Yes boss," they say at the same time.

*

The first thing he sends Yuto is a smiley face. 

It's back to all hands on deck the moment he returns from the city, a stack of paperwork to do, more clients than usual to defend their young age to, alumni messages to write for the university newsletter that they both can't put off any longer. But finally it's been another week, and on this Saturday night, Takaki can breathe.

He's taken his phone off its charger before dinner when he remembers the newest number to be stored on it. Takaki stares at the contact name for a few minutes before sending the message.

To: Yuto | 6:33pm  
:)

Then he and Aya stuff their faces with pizza and he helps clean up, then goes for a walk on the beach, and by the time he gets back there's a reply.

From: Yuto | 7:51pm  
/// :D/ \\\\\

From: Yuto | 7:51pm  
greetings from somewhere underneath this pile of readings! have things let up at the clinic yet?

Takaki chuckles and taps a few quick messages before heading to the shower.

To: Yuto | 9:43pm for now. not for long though.

To: Yuto | 9:44pm  
good luck with your readings. you know not to stay up too late.

From: Yuto | 10:12pm  
roger that, sir!

After that it gets easier, to pick up the phone and exchange a couple of short messages, or in one instance, have a conversation with just emoticons. Since they're both busy, this is all they can spare right now, and it makes Takaki beyond happy that a few moments of Yuto's time are being spared for him.

One night when he's reading in bed, his phone vibrates; Yuto's contact card is displayed on the screen.

"Hello?"

There's a rustle of pages on the other end of the line before Yuto speaks.

"Hi~i, I was falling asleep out of boredom here, and I really wanted to hear your voice."

Maybe one day Takaki will think back on this moment and hit himself for not finding any words to say, but right now he's just too goddamn happy to care.

He forces himself back to reality, because Yuto is still speaking.

"I'm gonna come down soon if it's okay. I'm not sure when — all I know is that I want to go to the beach. I'm just giving you prior notice for a change."

Only _then_ does Takaki find his voice. "Of course it's okay. I meant it when I said you're welcome here whenever."

Yuto's laughter is soft. "Thank you." Then, "I better let you go, I'm sure you're exhausted," he says, now with a tone of regret. "I still have work to do, too."

Takaki is indeed exhausted, but after they hang up he still spends an inordinate amount of time resting his head on his hands, grinning up at the ceiling.

*

The end of the year crawls ever so closer, but Takaki won't get to see Yuto before it does.

"I'm coming down on Friday," he texts a few days after Christmas, "right after we visit the shrines. Wait for me!"

"Will do," Takaki sends back before stumbling outside to shovel snow off the footpath of his parent's home.

They've closed up shop for a week, only returning on Friday in preparation for business to resume on Saturday.

So Yuto visiting on Friday is perfect.

In the meantime, this week is for boardgames with his family, painting the living room with Yuma, meeting Yuu's boyfriend and trying to tamp down his brotherly instincts because Yuu won't quit glaring at him from across the table. And for falling asleep on the couch in front of the television, just like he used to in the old days.

It's almost as though he never left.

They visit the shrine on the New Year, greeting other families they see, and after a lunch in which Takaki eats way too much — one thing he'll always miss is his mother's cooking — he drives back home.

It takes him a little longer to get there than usual, but he arrives when it's still light outside and snow has only just started to fall again. Neither Aya or Yuto are there when he get there, but he doesn't have to wait long before Aya's letting herself in, swathed in a giant patterned scarf, when he's restocking their fridge with the contents of one of his bags.

"Happy New Year!" he calls out, then crosses the room in a few strides and throws his arms around her.

She's laughing when he lets her go. "Happy New Year to you too."

It's then his job to play fridge Tetris when Aya hands him a bag filled with food from the Oomasa household, which means redoing all his hard work from earlier, but hey, now their fridge is _doubly_ stocked with food fit for royalty. 

Yuto knocks on the door a little after five laden with dinner, and pales when they both groan.

"We need to eat all of it now, because there's no more room in the fridge," Takaki says, opening it in demonstration. One tumbles out and he has to make a lunge to catch it; in doing so he tries not to focus on the way his stomach clenched when he noticed the snow resting on Yuto's eyelashes.

Afterwards, he's settled on the sofa listening to Yuto, now without snow covered lashes, narrate the last couple of months, and trying to pretend he's not entranced.

Because Yuto's doing that thing again when he talks, his whole body moving, hands flying everywhere, head thrown back as he laughs.

And Takaki really wants to kiss him.

He becomes aware of Yuto trailing off mid-sentence, watching him with a tender expression.

There's a lump in Takaki's throat, so all that comes out is a questioning noise.

Yuto swallows, says, "You're staring."

Everything is screaming at him, telling him this is it, that this is the time or so be it and hold his peace.

So Takaki listens for once in his life. 

"I like you." Takaki whispers, and he feels nothing but relief as the words are finally released. "Have for ages and it's been driving me insane."

Then Yuto sighs and smiles, says, "Me too," and surges forward into his arms.

*

"I've been flirting with you for months," Yuto says the next morning, and really, there's nothing Takaki can do after that except to tilt his head up and press their lips together for their first kiss.

"You didn't think to tell me this before?" he demands when they break apart.

Yuto looks abashed. "I assumed you weren't interested."

Takaki half groans half laughs, and covers his face with a hand. "I don't know which of us is the more clueless."

"Maybe this is the world's way of telling us we're equally as clueless," Yuto suggests. He points to Takaki, and then to himself. "Clueless one and Clueless two." He cracks up when Takaki slaps the other hand to his face, too. 

Although Takaki would like it to, work doesn't stop simply because Yuto is here. They don't have to deal with the same influx of clients they did at the end of last year, but there's still cleaning to do, phones to keep an ear out for, and one, shivering walk-in client to attend to.

Takaki feels much the same way — all he wants to do is go right back to bed and crawl underneath the covers, but he can't, because somehow he's the proprietor of a sleep science clinic.

Everytime he sees Yuto in between all the running around, threading fingers through his hair as he studies, talking to Aya, chewing on his pen when his mind wanders, rocking on his chair while he stares at some numbers, giving up studying to read a book, feeling guilty about reading and going back to studying, the clock can't tick fast enough.

In the end Takaki can't take it anymore. Opening hours are from eight to six, but it expended enough effort to hold out that Takaki can't bring himself to care about two remaining minutes. He takes a thick blanket from the linen closet, plucks Yuto's glasses off his face, and curls up with him on the living room couch.

Throughout this all, Yuto offers no protest, just tucks himself underneath Takaki's arm once he wraps the blanket over and around them both. 

"I know you're going back to university soon," Takaki breaks the silence with at one point when they've stopped shivering, "but when you have some time, call me? We can do something."

"I'd like that," Yuto murmurs into his shoulder, and presses closer into his side.

*

He didn't anticipate that it would be so much harder to see Yuto go that Monday morning.

The bright side, if it can even be called that, is that Yuto seems to be just as reluctant to leave, stealing kisses whenever he can, and not being able to let go.

Most of all, Takaki regrets that they couldn't spend much more time together than usual.

"I get it," Yuto's mouth twists in understanding "You're busy saving the country from themselves. And I'm glad we could even have this together." 

Lips ghost over his jaw one last time before Yuto's pulling away, and Takaki tries not to whine. "Can't have your clients seeing you so unprofessional," he jokes.

Takaki sighs. "Yuto, I work on the beach."

Yuto tilts his head and shrugs, the ghost of a smirk pulling up at the corners of his lips. "That's true."

Takaki snorts, waves as Yuto gets into the car. "Drive safe." 

Yuto blows him a kiss when the door is shut, and Takaki is able to ignore the cold until he watches Yuto drives off. 

*

From: Yuto | 8:52pm  
omg finished my work early for once. gonna go to bed now because I'm an old man BUT I DESERVE THIS DON'T TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME, UNIVERSE.

To: Yuto | 8:53pm  
sleep well

*

To: Yuto | 11:06am  
it's so cold

To: Yuto | 11:06am  
i wasn't made for winter

From: Yuto | 11:09am  
poor bb. wish i could make you some tea rn. :(

To: Yuto | 11:10am  
u_u i'll survive somehow.

*

To: Yuto | 2:23pm  
...keito said to say hello... i didn't tell him anything. -_-

From: Yuto | 4:31pm  
....oops?

From: Yuto | 4:32pm  
dw, i'll be sure to pummel him in mario kart next time we play

From: Yuto | 4:33pm  
y'know, throw a banana somewhere. he always trips over those.

From: Yuto | 4:36pm  
oh right, greetings! :D/

*

"Have you been working out?"

He doesn't mean that to be the first thing he blurts out, but Yuto just laughs before pulling him in for a hug.

"Yeah, ever since it became too cold to run in the mornings. It's only starting to show now." He hugs Takaki tighter. "It's good to see you."

Takaki hums his agreement against Yuto's shoulder. Then he shivers. "Let's go inside?"

To: Yuto | 2:11pm  
did you make it to class on time?

From: Yuto | 3:01pm  
yup! sorry I had to run. thanks for coming to see me today.

*

From: Yuto | 8:41am  
i'm starting to dream again

From: Yuto | 8:41am  
quite a few more than I'm used to

To: Yuto | 8:56am  
????????

To: Yuto | 8:56am  
nightmares or

To: Yuto | 8:57am  
do you wake up in the night still?

To: Yuto | 9:03am  
yuto?

From: Yuto | 9:27am  
sorry, didn't mean to scare you. dw, nothing bad, i'll tell you about them next time i see you.

*

From: Inoo | 6:06am  
what does it mean if I dream about being a leprechaun? 

To: Inoo | 7:14am  
it means you look good in green.

From: Inoo | 1:03pm  
oh yeah? okay then thanks :D

From: Inoo | 1:05pm  
oh btw I ate wafers in front of chinen the other day just to see what happened and he reacted in exactly the same way as before

From: Inoo | 1:05pm  
still funny

To: Inoo | 6:29pm  
it's a good thing he likes you for your brain

From: Inoo | 6:30pm  
i know xD

*

To: Chinen | 2:51pm  
um aya's super busy so I took a look at the accounts instead

To: Chinen | 2:51pm  
help

From: Chinen | 2:52pm  
omg no don't touch the accounts 

From: Chinen | 2:52pm  
I mean it don't touch

From: Chinen | 2:53pm  
doesn't matter if you don't record the amounts. just leave the relevant documents and i'll do it all the next time I come

From: Chinen | 2:54pm  
seriously don't touch

To: Chinen | 3:03pm  
okay okay no touching i put them back 

From: Chinen | 3:03pm  
:D good boy

From: Chinen | 4:24pm  
btw I'm bringing an apprentice with me :D

*

Chinen visits on the last day of February but they don't see each other until dinner time, which is why Takaki starts when he sees Yuto trailing behind Chinen when they exit the office.

Yuto doesn't say anything, just smiles and pecks him on the lips. Takaki is so confused but he leans in anyway.

He's long given up questioning Chinen's actions.

*

At night, Yuto knocks on his bedroom door, and when Takaki finishes changing and lets him in, sits on the bed, swinging his legs.

Takaki raises an eyebrow but leaves the room to brush his teeth; when he comes back, Yuto's crawled underneath the covers.

He huffs a laugh and slides in next to Yuto once he's turned off the light. "I like your pyjamas."

Yuto beams. "Aren't they awesome? I want Ewok pyjamas forever." Then he turns away and tugs on Takaki's arm until it's wrapped around him, and they don't speak for a while.

"I heard you can share dreams." Yuto's voice is muffled by the pillow.

Takaki has to struggle to break past the haze of fatigue and the scent of Yuto's shampoo, but once he does, he starts to panic. "I used to help Chinen with his nightmares before. I thought you said you weren't having nightmares."

"No, no I'm not," Yuto turns back around to face Takaki, presses his lips to Takaki's to silence him. "I promise I'm not. I was wondering if we could try. With the recurring dream I'm having."

Takaki groans, needs to wait for his heart to steady, Yuto chuckling through his stream of soft apologies. "Sure," he says when he gets his breath back. He kisses the side of Yuto's head. "Sleep now."

It's been a while since he last did this, enter into someone else's dream. At least this time it'll be under better circumstances, and not in a realm full of flying cars and ferocious dogs.

When he opens his eyes in Yuto's dream, all he can see is varying shades of blue, ripples in the water by his feet where eye's standing. He casts his eyes around, searching, but then Yuto's there by his side, taking him by the hand.

They wade further into the ocean together until they can no longer walk, and then they dive without stopping, not needing to breathe. 

Once there, Yuto kisses him on the ocean floor.

*

"You guys didn't need to do this," Yuto protests. His face is red and he's not looking anyone in the eye, until he accepts the drink Takaki pushes into his hands. 

"Yeah we did," Chinen scolds. "Graduating is something to be celebrated. Besides, this party is for both you and Yuyan."

Takaki blinks. "What's this now?" Last he'd heard, this was a party to celebrate Yuto's graduation as well as first time job, organised by Takaki himself.

Chinen's response is to set off a party popper. "Congratulations!"

He doesn't elaborate then, and so silence falls among the three of them, broken only by Takaki picking long, colourful strands of paper from his hair.

When Takaki still doesn't comprehend, Chinen throws his hands up in the air. "You've earned my blessing for moving to the beach!"

Before he opens his mouth to remind Chinen it's been over a year, Chinen sighs and flails his hands. "You've successfully disproven each and every one of my cleverly crafted counterarguments," he says, and claps.

He still doesn't get it, so he shakes out the remaining pieces of debris from his hair. It's only when he comes up that maybe...

"Is this why you kept arguing with me when I said I wanted to move? Was it all an act?" Beside Chinen, Yuto looks like he's trying not to laugh.

"Yup. It's part of my job description and responsibility as best friend to help you see both sides of the arguments by presenting counter arguments." His face falls. "You didn't notice, did you?"

Yuto's sniggers are turning into hacking coughs.

"No," Takaki says.

He's saved by the force of Chinen's pout by Hikaru yelling at them to stop letting the food go cold.

Later, when their back in Takaki's bedroom, he presents to Yuto a painting by Aya, of a rose garden behind a cottage.

Yuto says nothing, just stares.

"I scribbled it out for her as a guide," Takaki says, getting more nervous by the second. He's always taken care to abide by doctor-client confidentiality and treasure one's dream representations, and now he's worried he might have botched things up. But this was one of the dreams Yuto shared with him the most, so he'd taken a chance.

Yuto lifts his eyes back up to meet his then, and surges forward for a fierce kiss.

Oh okay, not botched up then.

"Congratulations again," he sighs, relieved, wrapping his arms around Yuto who presses closer and hums.

"You're going to be seeing a lot more of me now," he murmurs. "Especially since I'm going to be your accountant now."

Takaki blinks. "What."

Yuto pulls away then, blinking at him with wide eyes. "Oh, didn't Chinen tell you? He handed over the reins to me. I'll be coming down every so often to save you from numbers."

Yuto cracks first as they stare at each other, shaking so hard with laughter Takaki has to hold him up.

Even as he rolls his eyes, however, Takaki's pulling Yuto closer to him, hoping the gesture can convey his gratefulness. He hasn't always been able to make decisions that are good for him, but for the past couple of years, Takaki can't deny he's done pretty well.

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 is a compilation of all the dreams and their meanings mentioned in the fic.


End file.
